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FVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


THE    INTENDANT   AS  A   POLITICAL  AGENT 

UNDER  Louis  XIV. 


Submitted  in  partial  fulfilment   of   the   requirements  for  the 

degree   of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,    in    the   Faculty   of 

Political   Science,     Columbia    University. 


ALLEN   JOHNSON,  A.  M. 

Associate  Professor  of  History.^  Iowa   College. 
Sometime  Fellow  in  European  History.,   Columbia    University, 


LOWELf.,    MASS.: 

COiTKlEK-ClTI/FN   COMPAVY,    PlM-ilTERS, 

1899. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


Introduction               ....  5 

Chapter  I. — Origin  and  Characteristics  of  the  Office 

of  Intendant            .                 .                 .  7 

Chapter  II. — The  Intendant  as  Financial  and  Judi- 
cial Officer               ...  22 

Chapter  III. — The  PoHce  Duties   of   the    Intendant  37 

Bibliography  .  .  .  .52 


453SS'^ 


INTRODUCTION. 


As  one  turns  the  leaves  of  the  voluminous  administrative  cor- 
respondence of  the  old  regime  and  reads  here  and  there,  his  first 
impression  is  that  of  prodigious  activity  amid  bewildering 
diversity  and  complexity.  The  pages  are  crowded  with  obscure 
allusions  to  peculiar  local  customs;  dignitaries  of  more  or  less 
importance  appear  and  disappear;  titles  and  offices  multiply  to  dis- 
traction. The  student  is  tempted  to  believe  the  old  regime  a 
chaos.  It  is  not  long,  however,  before  the  figure  of  one  adminis- 
trative ofificer  emerges  with  tolerable  clearness ;  the  intcndant 
seems  omnipresent.  And  yet,  when  one  attempts  to  give  definife- 
ness  to  his  duties,  chaos  threatens  to  reign  again.  There  is  some- 
thing vexingly  elusive  about  the  intendant.  Viewed  from  one 
point,  he  is  the  submissive  creature  of  the  controleiir ;  viewed  in 
another  light,  he  seems  to  rule  as  absolutely  as  the  great  monarch 
himself.  Whether  he  is  overwhelmed  with  popular  applause  in 
Pau  or  cursed  with  virulent  fury  in  Poitou,  the  old  regime  is 
inseparably  associated  with  his  name. 

The  difficulty  of  putting  the  intendant's  duties  into  precise 
form  arises  largely  from  the  habit  of  regarding  him  as  an  admin- 
istrative ofificer,  pure  and  simple,  when  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  intendant  was  peculiarly  hors  dc  hi.  He  was  bound  by 
no  established  administrative  statutes  or  regulations;  not  even  his 
connnission  was  registered  in  Parlement.  To  the  local  authori- 
ties he  owed  no  obedience,  since  local  laws  and  coutumcs  had 
crystalized  centuries  before  the  intendant  became  a  part  of  the 
administrative  organism.  He  received  frequent  instructions  from 
the  king  in  council  and  from  the  ministers,  it  is  true,  but  in  gen- 
eral he  was  left  singularly  free  to  exercise  his  discretion.  Given 
the  ends  in  view,  he  was  nearly  always  permitted  to  choose  the 
means  best  suited  to  reach  them.  Such  freedom  might  have 
proved  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  crown,  if  the  intendant  had 


6  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT. 

not  been  brought  into  immediate  touch  with  the  royal  council  and 
with  the  chief  ministers  of  state  by  a  minute  and  regular  cor- 
respondence. This  intimate  connection  made  him  responsive  to 
the  slightest  wish  of  the  king, — made  him  in  fact  the  supple,  sub- 
servient agent  of  royalty  for  the  gratification  of  its  every  whim. 
When  the  crown  felt  itself  menaced  from  any  quarter  and  was 
forced  to  act  with  the  full  weight  of  its  authority,  a  trusted  officer 
was  at  hand  to  secure  obedience  to  its  behests.  The  last  word 
upon  the  great  historical  movements  of  "le  grand  siecle"  will  not 
be  said  until  full  credit  is  accorded  to  the  intendants  for  their 
unceasing  labors  in  behalf  of  absolutism. 

Pew  thoughtful  readers  have  laid  aside  De  Tocqueville's  bril- 
liant review  of  the  intendants  without  a  desire  to  know  more  of  the 
men  who  have  exercised  so  profound  an  influence  upon  French 
institutions.  In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made  to 
illustrate  the  nature  of  the  intendant's  office  by  selecting  the  more 
important  phases  of  his  activity  in  a  period  when  the  social  and 
political  fabric  of  the  old  regime  was  assuming  its  permanent 
fonn.  The  picture  must  necessarily  be  defective.  De  Tocqueville 
has  remarked  with  pardonable  exaggeration  that  under  the  old 
regime  the  government  took  the  place  of  Providence.  The 
student  who  has  followed  the  tortuous  course  of  the  government 
under  Louis  XIV.  will  be  inclined  to  acquiesce  in  this  sentiment; 
assuredly  the  ways  of  that  government  seem  often  as  inscrutable 
as  those  of  Providence. 


The  writer  gladly  takes  this  opportunity  to  acknowledge  his 
indebtedness  to  Professor  James  Plarvey  Robinson  of  Columbia 
University  for  many  helpful  suggestions,  and  to  Mr.  George  H. 
Baker,  Librarian  of  the  Columbia  College  Library,  for  repeated 
favors.  Thanks  are  due  also  to  the  authorities  of  the  Harvard 
College  Library  for  their  kind  attentions. 

Grinneli.,  Iowa,  Dec.  26th,  1898. 


THE  INTENDANT  AS  A  POLITICAL  AGENT 
UNDER  LOUIS  XIV. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ORIGIN    AND    CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE    OFFICE    OF 
INTENDANT. 

There  is  no  more  persistent  error  among  historians  than  that 
which  ascribes  to  Cardinal  Richelieu  the  creation  of  the  institution 
of  the  intendants.  The  source  of  the  error  is  clear  enough.  In 
the  collection  known  as  anciefiues  lots  fraiiqaises  occurs  an  edict 
of  the  year  1635,  which  the  editor  has  dubbed  ''JSdit  de  Creation 
des  IntendcDits!'  The  name  iiitejidant  appears  in  connection  with 
several  financial  offices,  either  newly  created  or  reorganized,  and 
the  editor  seems  to  have  jumped  at  the  conclusion  that  he  had 
before  him  a  document  actually  creating  the  institution  so  familiar 
to  students  of  the  old  regime.  The  blunder  was  detected  many 
years  ago,  but  historians  continue  to  perpetuate  the  illusion.  It  is 
comparatively  easy  to  show  that  the  word  intoidaut  in  the  edict  of 
1635  is  to  be  understood  in  a  totally  different  sense  from  that  of 
the  same  word  used  in  the  phrase  intendant  de  justice;  and  it  is 
still  easier  to  prove  that  intendants  were  in  existence  before  the 
year  1635.*  The  former  line  of  evidence  has  been  restated  too 
often  to  need  reiteration  here,  but  the  latter  may  be  profitably 
reviewed. 

The  first  intendant  of  whom  record  is    preserved    is    Pierre 

*See  Caillot:  De  I' Administration  en  France,  I.  pp.  71  et  seq.  This  work,  piibli.shed 
in  18.57,  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  edict  of  1635  did  not  create  the  office  of  intendant, 
but  simply  created,  or  altered  the  nature  of,  certain  officers  known  as  presidents  et  tn'so- 
riers  ff('n(;rnux  des  finances. 

M.  Hanotaux  cit  es  an  instance  where  certain  presidents  and  tn'soriers  at  Montpellier 
styled  themselves  intendants  des  gabelles.     Hanotanx:    Les  origines  des  Intendants,  p.  2. 

Kven  in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  we  find  numerous  Instances  of  the  title  used  in  its 
most  general  sense,  where  no  reference  to  the  royal  intendant  or  commissaire  departi  is 
intended. 


8  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

Panisse,  who  was  commissioned  about  the  year  1555  to  go  to 
Corsica  as  intendant  de  justice*  The  island  had  recently  fallen 
into  the  possession  of  the  French  and  the  king  desired  to  establish 
order  there  by  means  of  a  royal  agent.  To  this  end  Panisse — 
"nostre  ame  et  f6al  conseiller  President  en  nostre  court  des  Gene- 
raulx  de  la  Justice  des  Aydes  a  Montpellier" — was  given  "plain 
pouvoir,  auctoritc,  commission  et  raandement  spc^cial"  to  confer  with 
the  lieutenant-governor  and  to  summon  in  assembly  the  notables 
and  officials  of  the  island.  He  was  to  learn  from  them  the  customs, 
laws  and  usages  in  the  administration  of  justice.  Over  all  courts 
he  was  to  have  "la  superintendance  generale,"  and  his  regulative 
ordinances  were  to  be  final  "comme  s'ilz  avaient  este  ou  estaient 
donnez  par  I'une  de  noz  courts  de  Parlement."  He  was  to  go 
about  from  town  to  town  to  inform  himself  in  regard  to  the  local 
laws  and  customs  and  to  exercise  such  police  powers  as  he  deemed 
necessary.  The  conduct  of  civil  officers  was  to  be  noted 
"dillegemment,  secretement  et  bien."  He  might  even  suspend 
them  from  office,  if  occasion  demanded.  Officers  of  finance  were 
to  be  subjected  to  the  same  scrutiny.  All  abuses  were  to  De 
reported  to  the  conseil prive;  although  in  urgent  cases  the  intend- 
ant might  undertake  their  correction  upon  consultation  with  the 
governor. 

The  essential  character  of  the  institution  and  the  lines  of  its 
future  development  are  indicated  in  this  commission. f  The  intend- 
ant is  to  represent  the  king  in  matters  of  justice,  police,  and 
finance  in  parts  of  the  realm  where  war  had  almost  subverted  the 
social  order.  He  is  completely  dependent  upon  the  royal  will  in 
regard  to  both  appointment  and  tenure  of  office;  he  is  essentially 
the  king's  man.  And  yet,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  circum- 
stances that  make  his  office  necessary,  he  possesses,  and  must 
possess,  no  little  discretionary  power  to  encounter  successfully  the 
opposition  which  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties  will 
inevitably  arouse. 

The  links  in  the  chain  that  binds  the  first  intendants  to  those 
of  the  time  of  Richelieu  may  be  easily  supplied.  The  admirable 
exposition  of  M.  Hanotauxt  has  done  much  to  make  the  connec- 

*Hanotaux:    Pieces  just.    I.  p.  179. 

t  "Elle  est  comme  un  raccourci  de  toute  I'institution  dont  elle  est  la  premifere 
^bauche."    Hanotaux,  p.  23. 

i  Hanotaux:     Origines  des  Intendants. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  9 

tion  intelligible,  and  all  students  of  the  institutions  of  the  old 
regime  will  gladly  acknowledge  their  indebtedness  to  his  work. 

During  the  years  of  civil  war  in  France,  when  the  royal 
power  was  reduced  to  a  mere  shadowy  there  are  few  records  of 
intendants  actually  bearing  the  title.  Royal  commissioners  were 
numerous,  but  their  functions  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  those 
of  the  intendants  of  succeeding  years,  however  much  tiie  practice 
of  commissioning  such  royal  agents  may  have  contributed  to  the 
final  triumph  of  the  system  of  permanent  intendancies.  The  ofifice 
of  royal  commissioner  was  ill-defined;  his  authority  was  vague 
and  transitory.* 

With  the  revival  of  the  monarchy  under  Henry  IV.  the 
intendants  spring  into  new  prominence,  and  for  obvious  reasons. 
Two  gigantic  tasks  confronted  Henry  of  Navarre:  he  had  first  to 
conquer  the  land  of  which  he  was  only  grudgingly  named  king; 
and  then,  task  scarcely  less  onerous,  he  had  to  pacify  and  rehabili- 
tate his  kingdom.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to  stay  the  hand  of  the 
rough  soldier  who  had  helped  to  win  the  allegiance  of  some 
rebellious  province  and  who  now  lusted  after  the  spoils  of  vic- 
tory; nor,  on  the  other  hand,  to  provide  for  the  legitimate  needs 
of  the  army  of  occupation,  without  kindling  once  more  the  hatrea 
of  the  newly  regained  province.  Due  regard  for  the  support  of 
the  soldiers  had  to  be  joined  with  generous  respect  for  the  feel- 
ings of  the  people.  The  conditions  were  unusual  and  fully  justi- 
fied the  plan  adopted  by  the  king.t  By  the  side  of  the  governor 
of  a  province  and  the  commander  of  the  army  of  pacification  was 
placed  an  offtcer  bearing  a  royal  mandate  which  conferred  upon 
him  extraordinary  powers  within  the  province  where  the  army  was 
to  operate.  In  nearly  every  instance  he  bore  the  title  of  intendant, 
but  with  certain  phrases  added  to  indicate  the  particular  duties 
for  which  he  was  commissioned.  He  might  be  '^intendant  de 
justice"  in  an  army  and  act  as  counselor  to  the  general  in  matters 
relating  to  the  preservation  of  order  and  discipline  among  the 
soldiers.  He  might  be  charged  with  the  ^Hntcndance  des  finances' 
in  an  army  and  have  supervision  of  the  moneys  raised  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  troops,  or  he  might  combine  all  these  duties  and  be 
styled  ^^  Intendant  de  justice,  de  police,  des  vivres  et  des  finances'' 

*  Hanotaux,  pp.  31-35. 
+  Hanotaux,  pp.  41  et  seq. 


10  THE    IXTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

in  a  specified  army.  In  each  and  every  case  the  sphere  of  his 
influence  and  power  was  the  province  where  the  army  of  pacifica- 
tion was  located. 

The  transformation  of  the  intendant  of  an  army  into  the 
intendant  of  a  province  was  only  natural.  It  might  often  happen 
that  an  intendant  would  remain  for  a  time  in  the  province  after 
the  immediate  occasion  for  his  coming  had  passed  away.  He 
would  then  almost  imperceptibly  become  intendant  de province* 
Here,  then,  was  a  tendency  which,  had  it  not  been  retarded 
by  the  activity  of  the  government  in  other  affairs,  might  have 
made  the  intendancy  what  it  became  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV., 
a  permanent  office.  By  the  year  1598,  the  first  task  of  Henry  had 
been  achieved ;  he  could  then  fairly  claim  to  be  master  of  his  king- 
dom and  could  begin  with  confidence  the  economic  and  financial 
restoration  of  France.  Sure  of  the  support  of  magistrates  and 
people,  the  king  could  now  dispense  with  the  intendants.  They 
had  not  yet  acquired  enough  stability  to  exist  after  the  immediate 
needs  to  which  they  owed  their  existence  had  been  met.  If  they 
did  not  entirely  disappear,  they  became  so  few  as  to  escape  notice. 
For  the  re-establishment  of  order  in  the  finances,  which  now 
became  the  chief  concern  of  Henry  and  his  minister  Sully,  recourse 
w^as  had  once  more  to  royal  commissioners,  who  have  erroneously 
been  confounded  with  the  intendants,  because  the  term  intendant 
was  sometimes  applied  to  them  in  contemporar}'  documents.  The 
error  is  of  exactly  the  same  sort  as  that  in  regard  to  the  edict  of 
1635.  Intendant  is  used  in  a  general  sense  to  designate  a  class  of 
of^cers  with  supervisory  powers,  not  the  particular  agent  whom 
we  have  met  as  intendant  de  justice.^ 

The  death  of  Henry  I\''.  left  France  once  more  a  prey  to  the 
decentralizing  forces  which  he  had  overcome  with  so  much  dif- 
ficulty. The  regency  grasped  desperately  at  the  only  means  which 
would  presers^e  its  own  existence:  the  revival  of  the  intendants. 
Many  of  the  old  intendants  were  recommissioned;  new  ones  were 
appointed  until  there  was  hardly  a  disaffected  province  where  the 
royal  power  was  not  represented  in  the  person  of  an  intendant. 
Commissions  varied  between  different  intendants  in  different 
provinces,  and  between  intendants  who  succeeded  one  another  in 
the  same  province,  but  the  tendency  was  to   unite   the  various 

*  Hanotaux,  pp.  45-50. 

+  M.  Hanotaux  puts  this  point  beyond  dispute  by  several  citations.    See  page  72. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  11 

appellations  in  the  collective  title  intendant  de  justice,  police  et 
finances  r* 

When  Cardinal  Richelieu  came  into  power  he  found  little  to 
add  to  the  powers  and  attributes  of  the  intendants.     Not  only  w^as 
the  institution  in  existence  before  his  day,  but  it  had  approved 
itself  to  all  who  sympathized  with  the  efforts  of  royalty  to  make 
head  against  the  forces  of  disintegration  within  the  realm.    It  can- 
not be  said  that  the  great  cardinal  added  anything  new  to  the 
institution  of  the  intendants ;  their  powers  remained  essentially  the 
same;  and  yet  Richelieu  undoubtedly  exercised  over  the  intend- 
ants an  influence  w^iich  may  have  been  transitory  but  which  was 
very  real,  so  long  as  his  master  mind  directed  the  state.     The 
intense  activity  of  the  great  minister  manifested  itself  by  a  sort  of 
reflex  action  in  the  intendants,  who  were  fast  developing  into 
vital  organs  of  the  government.     The  intendancies  were  multi- 
plied, and  to  the  tenure  of  office  was  given  a  greater  relative  per- 
manence; new  men  were  appointed  who  exercised  their  powers 
with  an  energy  and  decision  that  seemed  to  transform  the  nature  of 
their  office.     Conscious  of  the  entire  support  of  the  central  gov- 
ernment, these  intendants  bent  all  their  efforts  to  abase  the  ancient 
local  authorities.     They  lived  in  constant  conflict  with  the  gov- 
ernors of  provinces,  with  the  local  magistrates,  and    with    the 
provincial  parlements  and  courts.      It  was   at   bottom   only    one 
phase  of  that  deeper  struggle  between  absolutism  and  the  vestiges 
of  local  government.     The  conflict  between  the  parlements  and 
the  intendants  was  long  and  bitter,  continuing  well  into  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIV. 

Enough  has  been  said,  surely,  to  prove  that  Richelieu  did  not 
"create"  the  intendants ;  all  evidence  goes  to  prove  that  the  institu- 
tion was  a  growth.  It  will  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to  those  who 
have  regarded  the  intendants  as  the  peculiar  product  of  Richelieu's 
genius,  to  find  how  little  value  he  attached  to  the  office.  In  his 
political  writings  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  he  regarded  the 
intendants  as  permanent  organs  of  the  administration,  or  that  he 
rated  their  temporary  usefulness  very  highly.  On  the  contrary, 
if  the  words  of  the  "Tcstaincjit  politig7ie"  are  to  be  taken  as  his 
own,  he  entertained  so  poor  an  opinion  of  the  institution  that  he 

*  Hanotaux,  pp.  244  et  seq. 


12  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

actually  favored  reducing  their  powers  to  those  of  ordinary 
commissioners.* 

How  firmly  the  intendants  had  entrenched  themselves  in  the 
provinces,  and  how  jealously  the  local  authorities  guarded  the 
remains  of  their  ancient  power,  the  demands  of  the  Fronde  in  1648 
attest.  One  of  the  first  concessions  that  the  court  party  had  to 
make  was  the  revocation  of  the  intendants;  all  intendancies,  except 
those  in  six  provincesf,  were  summarily  suppressed.  It  was 
a  great  victory  for  particularism  over  absolutism.  "La  cour," 
cried  the  notorious  Cardinal  de  Retz  exultantly,  "La  cour  se 
sentit  toucher  a  la  prunelle  de  I'oeil  par  la  suppression  des 
intendances."! 

The  revival  of  the  monarchy  under  Louis  XIV.  was  accom- 
panied by  a  gradual  restoration  of  intendancies,  so  that  by  the 
year  1698  they  numbered  twenty-six,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution  thirty-three,  besides  six  in  the  colonies.  The 
generalities  varied  both  in  number  and  extent  during  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV. H  Picardy  and  Artois,  for  example,  were  for  a 
long  time  under  the  same  intendant.  Certain  conquered  provinces 
were  governed  by  intendants,  but  not  created  into  generalities  for 
several  years. §  Generalities  were  designated  indifferently  by  the 
name  of  the  chief  town  and  by  the  name  of  the  province  in  which 
the  greater  portion  of  the  generality  lay;  the  generality  was  not 
necessarily  coextensive  with  the  province. 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  common  practice  to  choose  intend- 
ants from  among  the  maitres  des  requites,  who  were  usually  rep- 
resentatives of  the  petty  nobility. IT  They  were  the  people  of 
whom  St.  Simon  said,  "Ces  avocats  renforces  et  qui  du  barreau, 

*  ".le  crois  qu'il  sera  trfes  utile  d'envoyer  souvent  dans  les  provinces  des  conseillers 
d'Etat  ou  des  maitres  des  requetes  bien  choisis.  nou  seulenient  pour  faire  la  fonction 
d'intendant  de  justice  dans  les  villas  eapitales,  ce  qui  peut  plus  servir  a  leur  vanite  qu'k 
utilite  du  public;  mais  pour  aller  en  tous  lieux  des  provinces;"  etc.,  etc.  Testament 
politique,  pp.  161-162.     (Edition  of  1689.) 

+  Bourgogne,  Provence,  Lyonnais,  Languedoc,  Champagne,  Picardie. 

%  Isambert,  XVII.  pp.  73,  73. 

"  Intendance  is  the  term  usually  applied  to  the  office;  gineralite  is  used  to  denote 
the  territorial  division  administered  by  the  intendant.  Later  the  term  intendance  was 
also  used  in  this  latter  sense.    I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  anglicizing  these  terms. 

§  e.  g.  Bourgogne  with  Bresse,  Gex.  and  Bugey. 

1  Not  a  few  of  the  attributes  given  to  the  intendants  seem  to  have  been  borrowed 
from  these  maiire  des  requetes,  whose  lineal  descent  from  the  viissi  dominici  of  Charle- 
magne and  from  the  enqueteurs  of  Louis  IX.  and  Philip  III.  has  been  insisted  upon  rather 
too  positively  by  some  historians.  These  maitres  des  requHes  were  assigned  to  regular 
circuits  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  enforcement  of  royal  ordinances  and  of  super- 
vising the  administration  of  justice.  The  Code  Michaud  of  1629  [Isambert,  XVI.  p.  223] 
gives  their  duties  in  detail.  Besides  supervisory  powers,  they  are  to  have  power  to 
reform  the  taxes  and  their  assessment,  to  inspect  registers  and  rolls,  and  to  repress 


undp:r  LOUIS  XIV. 


13 


ou  ils  gagnaient  leur  vie  il  n'y  a  pas  longtemps,  sont  devenus  des 
magistrats  considerables,  ont  pris  le  dc!'* 

It  was  part  of  the  policy  of  Louis  XIV.  to  choose  his  min- 
isters and  officers  of  state  from  the  lower  nobility,  who  could  never 
detract  from  his  glory  or  rival  his  influence.  The  young  man  who 
aspired  to  become  intendant  smoothed  the  way  to  that  respon- 
sible post  by  the  purchase  of  a  commission  as  viaitie  des  requites. 
It  would  have  been  contrary  to  the  practice  of  the  times  if  intrigue 
and  favoritism  had  not  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  intendants.  Certain  intendancies  were  more  lucrative 
than  others;  they  varied  greatly,  too,  in  responsibility  and  dignity. 

The  term  of  service  in  an  intendancy  was  not  fixed.  There 
was  no  attempt  at  uniformity,  for  the  essential  feature  of  the  office 
was  its  elasticity  and  its  complete  dependence  upon  the  will  of 
the  king.  At  Rouen  there  were  twenty-one  intendants  from  1664 
to  1716,  no  one  of  whom  held  office  for  more  than  seven  years, 
while  ten  of  them  held  office  for  less  than  three.  In  Languedoc, 
between  the  years  1672  and  1718,  there  were  only  two  intendants; 
of  these  one  held  office  twelve,  the  other  thirty-three  years.  Four 
intendants  were  installed  in  Picardy  between  1664  and  17 18, 
holding  office  nine,  ten,  fourteen  and  ten  years,  respectively. 
Transfers  from  one  intendancy  to  another  were  frequent,  and 
were  dictated  by  various  motives.  In  1665  Colbert  seems  to  have 
made  a  change  "gtcasy  ge'n&al"  of  intendants,  removing  certain 
incumbents  for  the  benefit  of  new  appointees.t  Pinon,  Vicomte 
de  Qiiincy,  was  successively  intendant  at  Pau,  Alenc^on,  Poitiers, 
and  Dijon.  De  Bouville  passed  from  Limoges  to  Alen^on ;  he 
returned  then  to  Limoges  and  some  years  later  assumed  the 
intendancy  of  Orleans.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  immediate 
occasion  for  sucli  frec|uent  changes,  they  promoted  zeal  and 
assiduity  in  office  and  made  the  intendant  completely  subservient 
to  the  royal  will.    The  office  never  became  a  sinecure. 

Cases  of  absolute  removal  seem  to  have  been  comparatively 
few.  Larcherl  was  recalled  from  the  intendancy  of  Chalons, 
apparently  for  neglect  of  duty  through  repeated  absences,  but  he 

summarily  all  abuses  and  all  attempts  to  evade  the  royal  ordinances.  Their  ordinances 
were  to  be  regarded  as  final,  with  appeal  only  to  the  council  of  the  Kin;,'.  With  the  rise 
of  the  intendants,  th(!ir  powers  must  have  been  greatly  restrictod. 

*Monin:     Hist,  admin,  du  Languedoc  pendant  I'intendance  de  /iasrille,  p.  1. 

i  Journal  d'Ollivier  d'Ormesson,  II.  p.  431  et  seii. 

JBoislisle:     Correspondance  des  intvndants,  II.  No.  41. 


14  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

afterward  became  President  of  the  cliambrc  des  comptes  at  Paris. 
When  D'Arguesseau  showed  lack  of  necessary  firmness  for  the 
responsible  intendancy  of  Languedoc,  he  was  quietly  recalled  to 
the  conscil  ctlt^tat,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  Basville  was 
made  his  successor.*  And  even  when  Marillac  was  recalled  from 
Poitou  in  disgrace  he  soon  regained  favor  and  was  given  another 
intendancy. 

The  old  feudal  tendency  for  offices  to  become  heritable  crops 
out  occasionally  in  the  efforts  of  certain  intendants  to  secure  the 
succession  in  office  to  their  sons.  When  a  father  had  proved  his 
efficiency  by  long  years  of  service,  his  petition  was  sometimes 
granted.  After  twenty  years  of  service  in  the  intendancy  of 
Provence,  Lebret  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  who  had  been  for 
several  years  associated  with  him.  De  Bouville  pressed  the  project 
of  creating  a  new  generality  of  Chartres,  in  the  hope  that  he  might 
be  transferred  thither  and  so  be  near  his  son,  who,  he  fondly 
hoped,  would  be  given  the  intendancy  of  Alen^on.  If  his  son 
were  thought  too  young,  he  offered  to  assume  both  intendancies 
until  the  young  man  acquired  the  necessary  experience  for  so 
responsible  a  post.f  The  project  fell  through,  but  the  younger 
Bouville  subsequently  became  intendant  at  Alengon.  Such  cases 
became  more  frequent  in  the  following  century,  when,  for 
example,  three  generations  of  the  Chauvelin  family  succeeded  with 
a  single  break  to  the  intendancy  of  Picardy.-t 

The  government  of  Louis  XIV.  expressed  no  objection  to 
plurality  of  offices,  so  that  many  intendants  retained  their  position 
even  after  they  had  been  appointed  conseillers  d'  J^tat.  Lebret  was 
intendant  of  Provence  and  also  first  president  of  the  Parlement 
of  Aix.§  If  the  intendant  was  spurred  to  assiduity  in  office  by  the 
fear  of  removal  or  transference,  he  was  perhaps  no  less  influenced 
by  the  hope  of  reward.  His  ardent  ambition  was  a  place  in  the 
conseil  a  Etat.  "Apres  vingt  anneesd'absence  de  Paris,"  wrote  one 
intendant  to  the  controleur,  "pendant  laquelles  j'ay  tasche  de  ne  rien 
omettre  pour  I'ex^cution  des  ordres  de  S.  M.,  avec  une  fidelite  et 
un  desinteressement  que  j'ose  dire  avoir  este  sans  reserve,  souf- 

*  Monin,  pp.  2,  3. 

t  Boislisle,  II.  No.  875. 

X  Boyer  de  Ste.  Suzanne:     Les  intendants  de  la  geiicralile  d' Amiens,  Appendice. 

§  Marchand,  pp.  20  et  .seq. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV. 


15 


frez-moy  la  liberte  de  vous  demander  I'honneur  de  vostre  protec- 
tion, en  cas  de  quelque  vacance  de  place  au  Conseil.  Encore  que 
M.  de  Marillac,  qui  me  succeda  k  I'intendance  de  Poitiers,  soit 
aujourd'huy  le  premier  montant  des  conseillers  d'Estat  semestres, 
et  qu'il  semble  que  je  doive  peu  esperer,  apr^s  que  tant  de  per- 
sonnes  moins  agees  que  moy  et  moins  anciennes  dans  I'employ 
ont  este  placees,  si  j'ay  le  bonheur  de  vous  voir  persuade  en  ma 
faveur,  je  ne  despereray  point  d'un  moment  heureux  qui  me  donne 
la  consolation  qu'ont  eue  les  sieurs  des  Hameaux  et  de  Miromenil, 
mes  deux  oncles,  de  mourir  conseiller  d'Estat."* 

The  salary  of  the  intendant  varied  with  the  importance  of  the 
generality  to  which  he  was  assigned.  De  Breteuil  at  Amiens 
received  a  yearly  income  of  12,000  livres,t  while  de  Bouville  at 
Orleans  received  18,300  livres.l  An  allowance  of  100  livres  per 
month  was  also  made  for  the  intendant's  secretary.§  The  intend- 
ants  were  the  recipients  of  many  perquisites.  Upon  appointment 
of  his  successor  in  the  intendancy  of  Dauphine,  Boucher  received 
as  an  annual  pension  the  6,000  livres  which  he  had  drawn  regularly 
for  fourteen  years  as  a  ^^gratificationr\ 

The  intendants  were  not  troubled  by  excessive  modesty. 
When  Le  Gendre  at  Montauban  wrote  to  thank  the  cojitroleuriov 
a  pension  accorded  his  sub-delegate,  he  unblushingly  requested  a 
similar  pension  to  reimburse  himself  for  numerous  expenses 
which  he  recounted  at  some  length.  The  colossal  effrontery  of 
the  man  appears  in  the  closing  passages  of  this  precious  missive: 
"Vous  savez  que  je  suis  seul  dans  cette  province,  et  que,  si  je 
ne  soutenois  pas  le  caractere  dont  vous  m'avez  revetu  avec  un 
peu  de  dignite,  cela  pourroit  diminuer  la  consideration  que  vous 
aimez  que  vos  cr(§atures  [sic]  s'attirent ;  et  peut-etre  que  le  Roi 
n'en  seroit  pas  si  bien  servi.  Ouoique  je  sois  un  des  plus  pauvres 
intendants  du  royaume,  j'aime  mieux  manger  mon  bien,  n'etant 
pas  possible  que  mon  revenu,  joint  aux  seuls  appointements  d'inten- 
dant,  puisse  sufhre  aux  ddpenses  que  je  suis  oblige  de  faire,  quoique 
bien  reglees,  que  de  ne  pas  vivre  avec  honneur  dans  la  place  ou 

♦Boislisle,  I.  No.  9.?6.  Shortly  after  this  same  intendant  asked  for  the  position  of 
first  president  of  the  I'arlement  of  Rouen. 

t  Boyer  de  Ste.  Suzanne,  p.  TiSa. 

t'Boislisle,  II.  No.  875  note. 

§  Boyer  de  Ste.  Siizn.nne,  p.  588. 
Boislisle,  I.  No.  840. 

II  Boislisle,  I.  No.  784.  A  similar  pension  was  awarded  to  Basville.  The  assembly 
Of  Bresse  gave  a  gratillcation  of  1600  livres  to  the  intendant.    Boislisle,  I.  No.  169  note. 


16  THE    INTENDANT   AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

vous  m'avez  mis.  Je  prencls  la  liberte  de  vous  presenter  sur  cela 
un  placet,  dans  lequel  j'expose  mon  etat  au  naturel;  je  vous  sup- 
plie  de  vouloir  bien  en  parler  au  Roi,  quand  vous  le  trouverez  a 
propos.  Je  mets  toute  ma  confiance  en  vos  bont^s.  La  moindre 
pension,  qui  seroit  pour  moi  un  glorieux  titre  d'honneur,  me  met- 
troit  en  etat  de  ne  point  deranger  mes  affaires  en  executant  vos 
ordres,  et  feroit  connoitre  au  public  que  vous  etes  content 
de  mes  services.  C'est  ou  je  borne  toute  mon  ambition."* 
The  response  of  the  controleiir  was,  "La  conjoncture  n'est  pas 
favorable  pour  obtenir  une  pension."  But  it  should  be  added 
in  all  fairness  that  many  intendants  had  to  rely  on  other  sources 
of  income  besides  their  salary,  to  meet  the  expenses  which  their 
social  duties  imposed  upon  them.f 

As  the  absolute  monarchy  came  to  meddle  more  and  more 
with  the  local  concerns  of  the  provinces,  the  duties  of  the  intend- 
ants became  more  numerous  and  exacting.  It  was  often  a  physi- 
cal impossibility  for  an  intendant  properly  to  inform  himself  of  the 
state  of  the  different  parishes  of  his  generality,  much  less  to  secure 
the  enforcement  of  ordinances  designed  to  reach  disorders  in  them. 
He  was  obliged  to  rely  on  helpers,  and  in  most  cases  he  sought 
men  of  influence  in  their  communities,  to  whom  he  might  safely 
delegate  his  authority  in  exigencies  that  arose.  This  practice  of 
sub-delegating,  at  first  resorted  to  only  as  special  occasion 
required,  t  received  the  tacit  approval  of  the  conseil  2ind  speedily 
became  universal.  It  was,  of  course,  open  to  grave  abuses.  An 
intendant  who  was  disposed  to  make  his  office  a  sinecure  might 
em.ploy  a  small  army  of  sub-delegates  to  attend  to  the  irksome 
details  of  his  office.  Such  cases,  indeed,  were  not  wanting. 
"Je  ne  puis  pas  m'empescher,"  wrote  Colbert  to  an  intendant 
in  1674,  "de  vous  donner  avis  que  ce  qui  fait  le  plus  de  peine  au 
Roy  sur  tout  ce  qui  regarde  la  conduite  de  MM.  les  commissaires 
d^partis  dans  les  provinces, §  c'est  le  nombre  de  subdelegues  qu'ils 
establissent  dans  tons  les  lieux  de  leurs  departements,  lesquels 
s'attribuent,  de  leur  chef,  I'autorite  de  prendre  connoissance  de 
toutes  sortes  d'affaires,  et  qui  abusent  tr^s-souvent  d'un  pouvoir 

*Boislisle,  II.  No.  114.=).    A  similar  request  in  Boislisle,  I.  No.  840. 
t  Boislisle,  11.  No.  1143. 
*  Leiires  de  Colbert,  IV.  p.  108,  No.  98. 

§  The  formula  almost  invarUiMy  used  in  official  documents  of  the  old  regime  to 
designate  the  intendants. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  17 

qu'ils  ne  connoissent  pas,  et  qu'ils  estendent  autant  que  leuis 
fantaisies,  leurs  passions,  et  leurs  interests  leur  suggercnt."* 
On  the  other  hand,  it  should  be  said  that  there  were  intendants 
who  displayed  indefatigable  zeal,  employing  sub-delegates  only 
as  absolute  necessity  required.!  Instances  are  not  wanting  where 
intendants  showed  a  rare  amount  of  self-denial  in  the  performance 
of  burdensome  duties  which  could  not  be  intrusted  to  other  hands. 

Many  considerations  entered  into  the  choice  of  sub-delegates, 
particularly  when  the  office  became  firmly  established.  While  it 
was  essential  to  have  men  who  enjoyed  consideration  and  respect 
in  their  communities,  and  men  who  possessed  tact  and  aptitude  for 
their  duties,  it  was  no  less  important  that  the  sub-delegates  should 
be  staunchly  loyal  to  the  king's  interests.  When  this  latter  con- 
dition was  satisfied  there  was  thought  to  be  no  incompatibility  in 
holding  simultaneously  the  office  of  sub-delegate  and  a  local 
office.  Consuls  were  often  sub-delegates  ;$  syndics,  and  occasion- 
ally mayors,  retained  both  offices. §  Lebret  declared  (in  1704) 
that  all  his  sub-delegates  were  "gens  dc  justice y\  It  was  no 
uncommon  thing  for  the  clergy  to  act  in  this  capacity. T  Yet  this 
union  of  royal  office  and  local  office  was  watched  with  suspicion  by 
the  people.  The  tiers  etat  of  Beam  protested  vigorousl)'  when  their 
syndic  became  also  a  sub-delegate.  They  insisted  that  he  resign 
one  office  or  the  other,  and  they  seem  to  have  carried  their  point.  ""= 

A  common  practice  was  that  of  choosing  a  sub-delegate- 
general,  who,  upon  commission  from  the  king,  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  intendant  during  the  Litter's  enforced  absence.''  In 
Pau,  precedent  seems  to  have  designated  the  First  President  of  the 
Parlement  for  sub-delegate-general  of  that  generality,  but  in  one 
case,  at  least,  the  choice  fell  upon  a  counselor  of  the  Parlement. 
There  was  probably  no  established  precedent  elsewhere. 

*  Lettres  de  Colbert,  IV.  p.  108,  No.  98. 

t  Marfhiind.  pp.  .=i5.  iSfi.     Lebret  boasted  that  )io  had  but  ono  sub-dolej^ate.  but  be 
ci.Tlainly  employed  others  for  special  purposes. 

t  Boislisle,  II.  No.  lii'.io. 

§Boislisle,  II.  No.  1112.     Boislisle,  II.  No.  2ri. 

II  Boislisle,  II.  No.  !S«o. 

%  Boislisle.  I.  No.  17-17. 
Marchand,  p.  5«.     'Une  liste  de  subd(-levrues  [ot  Provence)  serait  extrCmement 
vt'.ric'e:  on  y  trouveralt  non  seulement  des  ma^'istrats,  mais  dcs  hommes  dt^pde  et  mSme 
des  hommes  d'eglise." 

=-  Boislisle,  II.  No.  1112. 

"  Boyer  de  Ste.  Suzanne,  p.  29. 

t  Boislisle.  II.  No.  701.     Where  illuess  or  other  cause  prevented  the  iiitoudanl  from 


18  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAI-    AGENT 

The  edict  of  1704  which  made  the  sub-delegate  a  regular 
officer  of  the  administration  probably  brought  about  no  radical 
change  in  the  office  aside  from  greater  fixedness.  The  ostensible 
motive  for  this  step  appears  in  the  preamble :  "Le  ministere  de  ces 
employes  est  devenu  sy  important  et  leurs  fonctions  sy  etendues, 
que  nous  avons  juge  a  propos  d'investir  ceux  quy  las  exerceront 
k  I'advenir,  d'un  caractere  quy  d'une  part  leur  donne  le  relief  et 
I'autorite  necessaire  pour  le  bien  de  leurs  devoirs  avec  plus 
d'honneur  et  de  desinteressement."*  Underneath  this  official 
verbiage,  however,  the  real  motive  is  but  ill-disguised:  the  edict 
was  only  one  of  many  schemes  for  raising  funds  for  the  army  of 
the  king.  The  office  became  thus  hereditary  and  permanent,  by 
right  of  purchase,  in  each  bishopric  or  bailiwick  of  the  faj's  d^tats, 
and  in  the  chief  towns  where  sub-delegates  already  existed  or 
where  necessity  seemed  to  demand  their  establishment.  The  sub- 
delegates  were  to  receive  all  petitions  addressed  to  the  intendant 
and  to  forward  them  as  soon  as  possible,  with  added  information 
and  advice.  They  were  likewise  to  receive  the  orders  of  the 
intendant,  to  coninnmicate  them  to  the  inaires,  eschevins,  conseils, 
or  syndics  of  their  communities,  and  to  see  to  the  execution  of 
them.  They  were  to  assist  in  the  assessment  and  levy  of  the  taille 
and  other  impositions,  rendering  to  the  intendant  for  this  purpose 
an  exact  account  of  their  parish  visitations.!  These  offices  were 
to  be  filled  with  "{)ersonnes  capables  que  nous  entre  ceux  de  nos 
sujets  quy  nous  seront  presentcs  par  les  dits  sieurs  intendants 
et  comm''"-  departy  entre  les  mains  desquels  ils  presteront  le 
serment." 

At  a  time  when  royalty  was  insisting  upon  the  observance  of 
court  etiquette  with  the  utmost  rigor,  it  is  no  matter  of  surprise 
to  find  the  intendants  insisting  punctiliously  upon  petty  forms 
which  they  thought  due  to  their  social  and  political  position,  as 
bearers  of  royal  mandate.  Their  anxious  concern  for  matters  of 
etiquette  would  have  been  ludicrous  in  an  age  less  ardently 
devoted  to  formalities,  but  in  the  seventeenth  century  failure  in 
the  least  punctilio  was  fatal  to  official  influence  and  prestige.    The 


exercising  his  functions,  other  means  were  resorted  to.  When  Be^on  at  RocheDe  fell  ill 
and  asUed  for  a  three  months'  leave  of  absence,  the  controleur  assigned  Pinon  of  Poitou 
to  the  va''anc\'.  Pinon  received  a '•gratiflcation"  of  oOOO  livres  for  these  additional  ser- 
vices.   Roislisle.  II.  No.  4Hfi. 

*  Reprinted  amonff  Pieces  justificaUves  in  Boyer  de  Ste.  Suzanne,  p.  5S3. 

+  Roislisle.  I.  No.  VSXi.  gives  an  iuterosting  instruction  given  by  an  inten  lant  to 
his  sub-delegates  ''iwur  faire  la  visite  des  bl^s." 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  19 

Correspondance  administrative  records  more  than  a  few  petty 
wrangles  over  questions  of  precedence  in  the  provincial  estates. 
The  intendant  in  Bretigny  relates  a  quarrel  that  arose  between 
himself  and  the  First  President  over  their  respective  positions  in 
the  opening  procession  of  the  assembly.  The  usage  had  always 
been  for  tlie  intendant  to  be  accompanied  by  the  lieutenants  gen- 
eral, while  the  two  commissioners  of  the  <:-<?//Jt'z7 preceded  him,  and 
the  First  President  with  the  former  president  followed.  In  the 
absence  of  the  lieutenants  general,  the  First  President  claimed  the 
right  to  accompany  the  intendant.  The  intendant  protested  vigor- 
ously and  absolutely  refused  to  suffer  this  presumption.  Matters 
were  smoothed  over  finally  by  the  tact  of  M.  le  Marechal  de 
Chateaurenault,  who  had  the  intendant  walk  at  his  left.*  The 
incident,  trivial  enough  in  itself,  assumed  great  proportions  in  the 
eyes  of  the  intendant,  for  he  felt  that  his  social  and  political  pres- 
tige was  at  stake.  Where  there  was  a  fair  show  of  reason  on  the 
side  of  the  intendants,  the  conseil  du  rot  usually  sustained  their 
claims,  justly  feeling  that  it  must  secure  respect  for  the  personnel 
of  the  service.  When  an  intendant  of  Auvergne  felt  himself 
aggrieved  by  certain  imputations  from  the  presidial  of  Clermont, 
that  body  received  peremptory  orders  to  go  to  the  house  of  the 
intendant  and  to  give  him  satisfaction  ''en  ternies  honnetesy^ 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  intendants  were  socially  ambi- 
tious, and  nearly  all  show  a  disposition  to  rnagnify  their  office. 
Larcher,  intendant  in  the  town  of  Chalons,  urged  that  the  state 
purchase  a  house  to  serve  as  a  fitting  residence  for  the  intendant. 
He  supported  his  petition  in  this  fashion:  "Je  ne  sais  si  pareille 
chose  s'est  jamais  pratiquee,  mais  Ton  voit  tons  les  jours  faire  de 
semblables  impositions t  pour  les  bureaux  des  tresoriers  de  France 
on  }MMir  les  logemens  des  elections  ou  autres  compagnies,  et  Ton 
pourroit,  ce  mc  semble,  a  plus  forte  raison,  en  ordonner  de  mesnie 
pour  le  logement  d'un  intendant,  qui,  en  faisant  les  affaires  du 
Roy,  travaille  aussy  a  celles  dc  la  generalite,  et  qui  doit  estre  log^ 
convcnablement  a  son  caractere,  surtout  dans  une  ville  de  passage 
telle  que  celle-cy,  ou  il  est  souvent  oblige  de  recevoir  de  grands 

*  Boislislp,  II.  No.  915.  Another  instanco  in  Boislisle.  II.  No.  1029.  In  this  ciiso  the 
government  did  not  approve  of  the  pretcnsion.s  of  the  intendant. 

t  noislislf,  I,  No.  \m\. 

%  He  had  suKffe.sted  a  general  tax  on  the  irenerality  to  defray  tlie  cost  of  the  pro- 
posed mansion. 


20  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

seigneurs  et  quelquefois  des  princes."*  This  last  statement  was 
not  overdrawn.  It  sometimes  did  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  intendants 
to  entertain  members  of  the  royal  family,  but  with  the  worry  and 
expense  which  such  visits  seem  to  have  entailed  upon  the  intend- 
ant  and  the  community,  the  honor  was  rather  a  doubtful  one.j 

Nothing  is  more  hazardous  than  to  attempt  to  estimate  the 
personal  character  of  the  intendants  during  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIV.  Individual  estimates  are  indeed  possible,  but  sweeping 
generalizations  are  inadmissible,  so  long  as  the  official  corre- 
spondence remains  the  prime  source  of  authority.  Contemporary 
estimates  are  so  palpably  partisan  that  it  would  be  folly  to  give 
unreserved  credence  to  either  side.  When  the  mayor  and 
consuls  of  Montauban  wrote  an  ardent  eulogy  of  the  intendant, 
and  addressed  it  to  the  chancellor,  he  replied  that  nothing  could 
be  more  to  the  intendant's  credit  if  all  that  they  had  said  were 
dictated  by  no  other  motive  than  fear  of  losing  him,  but  he 
added  significantly,  "comme  tout  ce  que  vous  m'escriv6s  en  sa 
faveur  n'est  qu'une  repetition  de  ce  qui  m'a  est^  escrit  le  mesme 
jour  de  plusieurs  endroits,  il  est  a  apprehender  pour  luy  que  ce 
concert  ne  diminue  beaucoup  de  la  force  de  tous  ces  tesmoignages, 
et  qu'on  ne  les  regarde  comme  des  eloges  visiblement  mendies/'t 
Such  instances  warn  against  implicit  confidence  in  "unsolicited" 
testimonials  even  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Evidence  of  corruption  among  the  intendants  is  scanty. 
Here  and  there  an  intendant  was  found  implicated  in  fraud  and 
peculation,  but  such  cases,  if  frequent,  were  effectually  concealed. 
Suspicions  are  aroused,  it  is  true,  when  an  intendant  writes  a 
letter  denying  that  he  made  50,000  6cus  by  issuing  passports  to 
grain-dealers. §  He  may  have  been  honest, — the  tone  of  the  letter 
indicates  that  he  was, — but  the  opportunity  for  amassing  private 
fortunes  in  this  way  is  apparent,  and  may  have  been  secretly  used 
by  some  intendants.  What  creates  a  strong  supposition  in  favor 
of  the  general  honesty  of  the  intendants,  is  the  fact  that  they  kept 
in  such  close  contact  with  the  conscil.  Where  a  correspondence, 
at  once  so  minute  and  so  comprehensive,  is  sustained  between 

*  noislisle,  I.  No.  Ifi82. 
Foucault   was   domiciled   in   the   chateau  de  Pau,  "meubl6  des  meubles  de  la 
couronno,"  where  his  wife  bore  him  a  daughter,  born,  he  records  with  pride,  "dans  le 
lit  ou  est  ne  le  roi  Henri  IV."— Afe'moires,  p.  93  and  p.  108. 

t'Boislislc,  II.  Nos.  2.S(i  and  335. 

X  Depping,  I.  p.  954,  No.  21.5. 

§  Boislisle,  I.  No.  125.S. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  21 

subordinate  and  superior,  the  possibility  of  undetected  dishonesty 
is  small  indeed.  Tliere  is  almost  no  subject  upon  which  the  letters 
of  the  intendants  to  the  ministers  of  state  do  not  touch.  So  long- 
as  the  ministry  kept  a  firm  hold  upon  the  pulse  of  the  intendants, 
irregularities  of  heart  action  were  easily  detected,  for  the  service 
of  the  king  demanded  a  whole-heairted  devotion.* 

*The  controleur  once  wrote  to  Turgot  at  Tours,  "La  situation  des  affaires  demand* 
un  homme  tout  entiers."— Boislisle,  II.  No.  499. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    INTENDANT    AS    FINANCIAI.    AND    JUDICIAI,    OFFFCER. 

Any  attempt  to  find  uniform  regulations  prescribing  in  detail 
the  duties  of  the  intendants,  must  prove  futile,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  none  ever  existed.  Instructions  covering  special  cases 
or  even  classes  of  cases  are  many,  but  general  regulations  there 
are  none.  The  commission  of  each  intendant  was  addressed 
directly  to  him  and  was  never  registered  in  Parlement.  Moreover, 
these  commissions  not  only  varied  between  one  intendant  and 
another,  but  even  altered  their  character  as  the  intendant  gave  up 
one  intendancy  to  assume  another.  Generalizations  seem  thus 
extremely  hazardous  at  the  very  outset.  But  when  all  due  allow- 
ance has  been  made  for  local  variation,  there  still  remain  phases 
of  the  institution  which  are  common  to  all  intendants.  In 
matters  of  finance,  and  particularly  in  the  assessment  and  super- 
vision of  the  taille,  the  functions  of  the  intendants  present  great- 
est uniformity,  but  even  in  these  cases  the  uniformity  is  more 
apparent  than  real.  In  the/(7/.f  cTetatsXht.  imposition  and  collec- 
tion of  the  taille  was  entirely  under  the  control  of  the  estates  or 
of  commissioners  appointed  by  them.  The  intendant  might  direct 
and  supervise,  but  he  might  not  control.  In  the  pays  d'election 
the  case  was  diliferent,  for,  although  originally  the  assessment  of 
the  taille  was  the  work  of  elective  officers, — the  chis, — they  had 
ceased  to  have  any  real  independence,  yielding  to  the  intendants 
as  royal  agents. 

The  phraseolog)'  of  the  commission  given  to  de  Breteuil, 
intendant  at  Amiens,  is,  perhaps,  typical  of  those  addressed  to 
intendants  in  the  pays  d' election.  "Vous  faire  representer  les 
d^partemens  des  rolles  de  tallies  et  de  I'impost  du  sel,  vous  trans- 
porter dans  toutes  les  paroisses  pour  examiner  et  recognoistre  sy 
lesdicts  rolles  ont  est6  bien  et  dubment  faits  suivant  nos  ordon- 
nances  et  r^glements,  vous  enquerir  des  sommes  quy  auront  est6 
exig^es  par  chacune  annee  dans  lesdictes  paroisses  pour  frais 
d'huissiers  et  sergens  et  des  concussions  faites  tant  par  eux  que 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  23 

par  les  receveurs  et  commis  aux  receptes,  informer  pareillement 
des  abus  et  malversations  quy  pourraient  avoir  est6  faites  dans 

lesdits  d^partmens  des  tailles dc'cerner  toutes  ordon 

nances  et  viser  toutes  constraintes  n^cessaires  pour  le  recouvre- 
ment  de  nos  diets  deniers,  mesme  faire  compter  par  devant  vous 
tons  les  receveurs  g<^n6raux  et  particuliers  de  nos  finance  et 
autres  quy  ont  eu  le  maniement  de  nos  diets  deniers,  assister  et 

pr6sider  au   d^partement   d'iceux taxer  d'office  les 

principaux  habitans  des  paroisses  quy  se  seraient  fait  d^charger 
trop  modiquement  par  leur  credit  et  violence,  et  g6n6rallement 
agir  ail  regard  des  tailles  selon  et  ainsy  qu'il  est  port6  par  nos 
ordonnances."* 

The  bare  outline  of  such  commissions  was  filled  in  by  minute 
instructions  sent  out  yearly  to  all  the  intendants  of  the  pays 
d' Election  by  the  controleur  general.  Special  emphasis  was  laid 
upon  the  visitations  of  the  intendants  in  their  departments,  as  a 
necessary  preliminary  for  determining  the  amount  of  the  taille. 
Certain  injunctions  repeat  themselves  year  after  year.  The 
intendant  is  urged  to  observe  the  resources  of  each  election,  the 
taxes  with  which  it  is  burdened,  the  condition  of  the  tax-bearers, 
the  manner  in  which  taxes  are  collected,  the  conduct  of  receivers, 
abuses  and  the  remedy  for  them,  the  condition  of  the  farming 
lands  and  of  trade,  and,  in  general,  everything  that  will  aid  in 
making  up  the  annual  list  of  the  taille.^  Upon  the  reports  of 
these  annual  visitations  the  conseil  des  finances  relied  in  fixing 
the  brevet  de  la  taille, X  which  was  usually  sent  in  July  to  the 
treasurer  and  the  intendant  of  each  generality.  Accompanying 
this  was  an  order  to  prepare  the  assessment.  Treasurer  and 
intendant  then  submitted  their  report,  and  in  September  commis- 
sions were  sent  through  the  intendant  to  the  treasurer,  who,  i.i 
turn,  passed  them  on  to  the  officers  of  each  election.  Finally,  in 
October,  the  intendant  and  the  treasurer  went  into  each  election, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  Mils  formally  announced  the  amount  to 
be  raised  by  the  collectors. § 

At  first  sight,  the  association  of  the  treasurer  with  the  intend- 
ants seems  to  imply  almost  a  parity  of  power  between  them,  but 

♦  Boyer  de  Ste.  Suzanne:     Pieces  just.,  pp.  577  et  se(i. 
t  See  among  other  letters,  IJoislisle,  I.  Nos.  374,  .n71;  Colbert,  II.  p.  374. 
$The  expression  mifrht  be  loosely  translated  by  the  English  term  budget. 
SThis  procedure  is  indicated  in  Colbert.  U.  p.  83,  No.  38;   Colbert,  II.  p.  13  note: 
Depping,  III.  p.  233. 


24  THE    INTENDAXT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

such  a  supposition  is  wide  of  the  mark.  The  intcndant  possessed 
the  determinative  influence  in  the  distribution  of  the  burden  of 
taxation  between  parish  and  parish,  as  the  letters  of  Colbert  prove 
beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.*  It  is  to  be  noted,  too,  that 
wliile  the  local  collectors  assessed  the  individuals  of  each  parish 
according  to  their  own  judgment,  they  were  not  so  independent 
as  might  be  inferred.  They  were  constantly  under  the  eye  of 
the  intcndant  or  of  his  sub-delegates.  Besides,  the  intendant 
possessed  the  reserved  right  to  tax  any  person,  or  persons,  whom 
the  collector  had  passed  over,  or  to  augment  the  tax  of  those 
who  had  been  unduly  favored.  This  arbitrary  power — taxer  d' office 
— the  intendant  was  repeatedly  urged  by  the  government  to  exer- 
cise "pour  le  soulagement  des  peuples."t  Individuals  thus  taxed 
might,  it  is  true,  obtain  relief  through  the  cour  des  aides,%  but 
an  arret  dit  conseil  would  effectively  sustain  the  intendant  and 
quash  all  decisions  of  other  bodies. §  To  dull  the  other  edge  of 
what  might  prove  to  be  a  double-edged  weapon,  the  government 
forbade  the  intendant  to  use  this  power  to  decrease  the  taxation 
of  any  individual.  || 

Although  the  intendant  was  not  allowed  to  diminish  the 
amount  of  the  taille  on  his  own  responsibility,  he  was  expected 
to  keep  the  government  informed  of  losses  which  his  province 
might  have  sustained  through  failure  of  crops  or  other  cause,  and 
to  notify  the  government  when  a  lightening  of  the  tax  burden 
seemed  absolutely  imperative.  He  was  to  take  care  to  distribute 
the  tailie  so  as  to  relieve  those  districts  which  had  suffered  from 
reverses  of  any  sort ;  the  strong  were  to  bear  the  burdens  of  the 
weak. II  Aid  to  an  unfortunate  generality  was  not  always  bestowed 
by  diminishing  the  taille.  In  many  cases  the  king  preferred  to  send 
money  to  the  sufferers;  and  the  intendant  then  became  the  dis- 
penser of  the  royal  charities, — charities,  it  should  be  said,  which 
were  numerous  and  for  the  most  part  wisely  directed."  In  one 
instance  the  king  sent  to  an  intendant  20,000  livres  to  be  distributed 
in  a  parish  that  had  been  ravaged  by  a  hail  storm,  but  with  this 
sagacious  warning:    "11  faut  bien  prendre  garde  de  ne  pas  mettre 

*  Depping,  III.  p.  34. 

t  Colbert,  II.  p.  148,  No.  97;  also  p.  154,  No.  106. 

X  One  of  the  numerous  administrative  courts. 

§  A  good  example  of  this  in  Colbert,  II.  p.  212,  No.  177. 

II  Colbert,  II.  p.  266,  No.  233. 

IBoislisle,  I.  No.  461. 

o  Boislisle,  I.  Nos.  227,  378,  692,  937. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  26 

les  peuples  sur  le  pied  de  recevoir  ainsy  des  diminutions  et  grati- 
fications toutes  les  fois  qu'il  tombera  quelque  gresle.  Ces  sortes 
de  secours  extraordinaires,  que  S.  M.  ne  refuse  jamais  dans 
les  besoins  pressans,  ne  doivent  pas  s'appliquer  a  beaucoup 
d'occasions,  dans  lesquelles  il  souffroit  bien  souvent  d'user  de 
management  et  d'apporter  un  peu  plus  d'application  qu'a  I'ordi- 
naire,  pour  exciter  le  travail  et  I'industrie  des  contribuables."* 

Thrown  sometimes  upon  his  own  resources,  the  intendant 
had  to  provide  for  the  poor  of  certain  parishes  by  appealing  to 
the  well-to-do  classes  for  voluntary  charities.  And  when  such 
appeals  met  with  no  response,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  employ  more 
drastic  means.  Chauvelin  at  Amiens  threatened  to  quarter  poor 
families  upon  certain  affluent  individuals  whose  purses  did  not 
open  readily,  and  he  was  as  good  as  his  word  ;  he  housed  several 
families  in  this  fashion,  with  results  so  gratifying  that  he  hastened 
to  recount  his  praiseworthy  deeds  to  the  appreciative  contrdleiir.^ 

Collectors  of  taxes  were  chosen  by  the  inhabitants  of  each 
parish  and  were  made  personally  responsible  for  the  sums  to  be 
raised.  If  for  any  reason  they  were  unable  to  collect  the  amount 
assessed,  they  might  be  imprisoned  at  the  solicitation  of  the 
receivers.  This  fate  befell  many  an  unlucky  collector.  In  Tours 
so  many  collectors  were  imprisoned  that  Colbert  wrote  a  sharp 
letter  to  the  intendant,  bidding  him  to  inquire  into  this  lamentable 
state  of  things.  $  Inquiries  brought  to  light  an  iniquitous  practice, 
which  was  probably  not  confined  to  a  single  generality.  It 
seems  that  certain  shrewd  individuals  in  a  community  would 
sometimes  secure  the  election  of  a  collector  who  they  felt 
reasonably  sure  would  be  willing  to  go  to  prison  for  insolvency, 
if  he  and  his  family  were  sufficiently  remunerated.  It  was  far 
more  economical  to  support  an  insolvent  collector  in  prison  than 
it  was  to  pay  the  faille.  Such  practices  were  hard  to  root  out,  and 
the  intendant  often  found  himself  utterly  unable  to  reach  the 
guilty  parties.  Moreover,  the  collectors  themselves  were  often 
guilty  of  petty  fraud,  receiving  gratifications,  for  example,  for 
partially  remitting  the  ta.xes  of  unscrupulous  individuals. 

With  imprisonment  menacing  them  in  default  of  payment, 
it  is  not  strange  that  collectors  resorted  to  every  means  in  their 

♦Boislisle.  I.  No.  468. 
tBoislisle.  I.  No.  1174. 
t  Colbert,  II.  p.  71,  No.  19. 


26  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

power  to  extort  money,  or  its  equivalent,  from  the  tax-payers.  A 
royal  ordinance  forbade  the  seizure  of  beasts  of  burden  for  non- 
payment of  the  taillc,  but  the  rule  seems  to  have  been  honored 
more  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance.  Colbert  explained  the 
situation  by  saying  that  the  king  desired  to  check  the  arbitrary 
seizure  of  live  stock  by  collectors,  without  depriving  them,  how- 
ever, of  the  power  to  use  this  means  as  a  last  resort.*  This  left 
to  the  intendants  the  delicate,  and  rather  dubious,  task  of  deciding 
when  an  ordinance  of  His  Majesty  should  be  deliberately 
transgressed. 

Custom  permitted  the  use  of  luiissiers  and  sergens  by  col- 
lectors to  force  payments,  but  they  resorted  not  infrequently  to 
the  still  more  dreaded  porteurs  de  constraintes  and  to  logeme?its 
effectifs.\  This  latter  practice  was  discouraged  by  the  king, 
although  it  was  not  absolutely  forbidden.  "Vous  devez  travailler 
par  tous  les  moyens  possibles  a  retrancher  la  constrainte  par  loge- 

ment  effectif  dans  I'estendue  de  vostre  gen^ralite 

Travaillez  a  I'oster  pour  restablir  la  constrainte  par  voye  d'huissier, 
s'il  est  possible." t  But  the  course  of  the  government  was  far 
from  consistent.  Instances  abound  where,  at  the  urgent  request 
of  an  intendant,  the  government  sanctioned  the  use  of  the  soldiery 
to  secure  payments  of  the  taille.  To  the  intendant  at  Bourges, 
Colbert  wrote  in  1662:  "J'ai  ecrit  un  billet  a  M.  le  Marquis  de 
Louvois  pour  I'exp^dition  des  ordres  que  vous  avez  demand^s, 
afin  de  loger  des  troupes  dans  les  paroisses  de  vostre  gen6ralit6 
qui  refusent  de  payer  la  taille  suivant  le  role  que  vous  en  avez 
envoy6,  de  sorte  que  je  crois  que  si  vous  ne  les  avez  pas  encore 
re^us  vous  les  recevrez  incessamment."§  On  the  back  of  a  similar 
petition  from  the  intendant  at  Limoges  in  1708  the  controlejir 
wrote :  "  Lui  ecrire  de  manager  les  constraintes  avec  prudence. 
Avertir,  avant  que  d'envoyer  les  soldats,  qu'on  ait  a  payer  dans 
un  terme  certain;  si  non,  qu'au  jour  marqu6  ils  seront  loges  dans 
les  maisons  de  ceux  qui  refusent  de  payer."||     It  is  well  to  bear 

♦Colbert,  II.  p.  168,  No.  121. 

t  It  is  difficult  to  find  English  equivalents  for  these  terms.  Huissiers  ^.nA.iergena 
might  possibly  be  rendered  by  the  terms  hailiff  and  constable;  both  were  officers  associ- 
ated with  judicial  tribunals.  For  porteur  de  constraintes,  the  term  sheriff  would  be  a 
fair  equivalent.  The  expression  loyements  effectifs  refers  to  the  practice,  explained  below, 
of  quartering  soldiers  to  intimidate  obstinate  tax-bearers. 

t  Colbert,  II.  p.  224,  No.  189. 

§  Colbert,  IL.p.  234,  No.  201. 

I  Boislisle,  II.  No.  1371  note.  Other  instances  in  Boislisle,  I.  Nos.  176,  706,  1623; 
also  II.  Nos.  781,  1252. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  27 

these  instances  in  mind  in  discussing  the  "unparalleled"  treatment 
of  the  Protestants  by  logements  effectifs. 

Quite  as  instructive  is  the  part  which  the  intendant  played  in 
\.\iQ  pays  d'etats  in  securing  from  the  estates  the  grant  of  the  don 
gratuit.  The  intendant  and  the  governor,  or  the  lieutenant- 
governor,  were  usually  the  representatives  of  the  crown  in  these 
provincial  assemblies.  As  the  titular  representative  of  the  royal 
power,  the  governor  formally  opened  the  session,  but  he  rarely 
appeared  in  the  assembly  thereafter.  When  the  deliberations 
actually  began,  it  was  the  intendant  who  presented  the  demands 
or  wishes  of  the  crown,  and  stated  the  amount  of  the  don  gratuit 
that  was  expected.  It  was  the  intendant,  too,  rather  than  the 
governor,  upon  whom  the  government  relied  to  persuade  the 
assembly  to  yield  to  the  royal  demands.  In  the  earlier  part  of 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  at  least,  the  provincial  estates  had  not 
been  reduced  to  that  spirit  of  servile  obedience  which  they  showed 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  The  don  gratnit  had  long  since  lost 
its  original  meaning,  to  be  sure,  but  the  form  of  voluntary  gift 
was  preserved  and  the  amount  desired  by  the  crown  was  secured 
only  with  the  greatest  difficulty. 

It  was  customar}'  for  the  commissioners  to  demand  a  sum 
considerably  larger  than  that  which  they  were  secretly  authorized 
to  take,  while  the  estates  would  at  first  vote  a  much  smaller  sum, 
only  to  agree,  in  most  cases,  upon  the  sum  which  the  commis- 
sioners were  bidden  to  accept.*  The  tactics  of  the  intendant 
would  do  credit  to  a  modern  politician  at  a  political  convention. 
It  was  thought  to  be  of  considerable  importance  that  the  arch- 
bishop chosen  to  preside  over  the  assembly  should  be  one  well- 
disposed  to  the  king.  In  this  matter  the  knowledge  of  the 
intendant  stood  the  government  in  good  stead,  for  if  his  influence 
was  not  great  enough  to  secure  the  choice  of  his  favorite,  he 
could  at  least  put  the  court  in  possession  of  information  that 
would  bring  about  the  desired  result.  Sundry  letters  to  the 
bishops  of  the  province  would  leave  them  in  no  doubt  as  to  the 
choice  of  the  king,  and  woe  betide  them  if  they  ventured  to  cross 
the  will  of  His  Majesty  !  t 

Since  it  was  of  greater  importance  to  secure  the  subserviency 
of  the   deputies,  the   intendant   left   no   stone    unturned    "pour 

*See  Depping.  1.  passim. 
tDepping,  I.  p.  8a,  No.  23. 


28  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

mesnager  les  esprits  et  les  eschauffer."  On  occasions  he  resorted 
unblushingly  to  downright  bribery.  Wrote  one  intendant:  "Si 
\()us  voulez  que  pour  faciliter  les  affaires  du  roi  Ton  y  fasse 
quelque  depense,  mandez-le-moi,  s'il  vous  plaist,  pour  prendre  ses 
mesures  de  bonne  heure."  On  the  margin  of  this  note  Colbert 
wrote  in  assent,  "Qaelqjie  depcnsey*  Even  after  the  session 
had  begun,  the  intendant  continued  to  make  his  influence  felt. 
In  the  general  assemblyf  of  Provence,  the  deputies  were  wont 
to  deliberate  for  several  days  behind  closed  doors,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  royal  commissioners.  These  secret  sessions  were 
extremely  objectionable  to  the  intendant  Lebret.  He  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Aix  put  their  heads  together  and  finally  decided 
to  take  a  bold  stand  against  the  practice.  Next  year  the  intendant 
resolutely  kept  his  seat,  when  the  time  caine  for  him  to  withdraw, 
and  the  estates,  taken  by  surprise,  voted,  without  a  dissenting 
voice,  the  600,000  livres  demanded  by  the  king.  I  The  presence 
of  the  intendant,  the  delegated  emissary  of  the  king,  in  these 
provincial  assemblies,  was  undoubtedly  a  potent  cause  for  their 
becoming  facile  and  harmless  instruments  of  the  central  govern- 
ment.§  The  reflection  that  this  outwardly  unassuming  officer 
was  watching  with  lynx-eyed  sharpness  his  every  move,  and 
noting  his  most  casual  words,  quickened  more  than  one  indififereni 
deputy  into  at  least  ostensible  zeal  for  the  service  of  the  king.|| 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  in  these  earlier  years  of  the 
reign  the  governor  was  a  mere  figure-head,  but  it  is  true  that  the 
balance  of  power  in  the  pays  d'etats  was  steadily  gravitating 
to  the  intendant. IF  Although  the  governor  and  intendant  act 
together  as  royal  commissioners,  and  address  joint  reports  to 
the  controleur,  it  is  evident  that  greater  reliance  is  placed  upon 

♦Depping,  I.  p.  51,  No.  5. 
Another  intendant  wrote. .-"Nous  avons  este  obliges  de  vous  servir  du  secours  que 
vous  avez  trouv^  bon  que  I'on  prist  pour  faciliter  I'affaire  du  roy;  je  vous  en  envoiroy 
le  detail  par  le  premier  ordinaire,  et  les  noms  de  ceux  qui  ont  receu  ces gratifications."— 
Dapping,  I.  p.  123,  No.  46. 

tThe  FJats  provinciaux  of  Provence  had  given  way  to  a  less  independent  assembly 
called  the  assemblee  generale. 

tMarchand,  p.  98.    A  similar  practice  was  in  vogue  in  the  estates  of  Languedoc: 
Monin,  p.  131. 

§  See  the  testimony  of  the  Bishop  of  Marseille:    Depping,  I.  p.  405. 

II  Depping,  I.  p.  217,  No.  101,  gives  a  memoire  on  the  conduct  of  an  assembly  sub- 
mitted by  one  intendant  to  Colbert:     "M.  de  Viviers  a  faict  tout  ce  qui  dependait  de  luy, 

avec  zfele  et  affection.    M.  de  Saint-Pons  a  toujours  este  oppose  a  tout M.  de 

Polignac,  bien.    M.  de  Rabat,  M.  de  Gouges,  M.  de  Saint-Sulpice,  idem." 

M.  de  Saint-Pons  was  forbiddea  by  letter  from  the  King  to  attend  the  next 
assembly. 

1  See  the  admirable  discussion  of  the  position  of  the  governor  in  Marchand,  Chap- 
ter IL 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  29 

the  intendant,  who  by  the  very  nature  of  his  office  is  better 
informed  on  local  administrative  affairs.  Immediately  after  the 
intendant  and  his  colleague  had  submitted  their  joint  report, 
the  intendant  would  frequently  address  a  private  missive  to  the 
co)ity6leur,  relating,  confidentially,  this  or  that  aspect  of  the  polit- 
ical situation.  "J'ai  fait  voir  au  Roy  particulierement,"  wrote 
Colbert  to  the  intendant  at  Toulouse,  "le  memoire  secret  que  vous 
m'avez  envoy^,  concernant  la  diversity  des  avis  qui  ont  est^  portes 
4  la  derniere  deliberation,  et  Sa  Majesty  a  fort  bien  remarqu^  ceux 
qui  se  sont  distingu^s  par  leur  zele  a  contribuer  a  sa  satisfaction, 
et  les  autres  qui  s'en  sont  ^loignes  en  opinant  autrement ;  et  vous 
ne  devez  pas  craindre  que  je  vous  commettre  en  rien,  ni  en  cela, 
ni  en  toutes  les  autres  choses  que  vous  me  manderez  en 
confidence.''*  On  the  reverse  side  of  scores  of  letters  addressed 
to  the  controlejir  genera/  by  the  governor  and  the  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Provence,  were  written  in  the  hand  of  the  contrdleiw 
such  significant  memoranda  as  these:  "Se  concerter  avec  M. 
Lebret ;"  "Savoir  la  v^rite  de  M.  Lebret."t 

An  important  financial  mission  forced  upon  the  intendants 
was  that  of  supervising  the  finances  of  the  towns  and  smaller 
communities.  The  commission  to  de  Breteuil,  who  was  made 
intendant  at  Amiens,  read  :  "Verifier  les  dettes  des  communautez 
jugez  de  la  validite  d'icelles  ensemble  les  proces  pour  raison 
desdicts  debtes  et  de  leurs  cautions  et  co-oblig6s  dont  elles  sont 
garant^s  et  leur  accorder  les  d61ais  et  les  tolerances  que  vous 
estimerez  n^cessaires  vous  faire  representer  les  comptes  de  ceux 
quy  ont  en  maniement  des  denr^es  communs  et  d'octrois 
desdictes  villes  ensemble  les  pieces  justificatives  d'iceux  vous  en 
attribuent  a  cette  fin  toute  jurisdiction  et  connaissance  sauf  I'appel 
en  nostre  conseil  d'icelle.$  The  reports  of  the  intendants  reveal 
an  almost  unparalleled  history  of  corruption  and  maladministra- 
tion in  these  communities.  Bouchu  reported  three  small  towns 
in  his  generality,  which  together  had  an  indebtedness  of  1,500,000 
livres.  The  disasters  of  war  had  caused  part  of  this,  but  the 
corrupt  administration  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  was  largely 
responsible  for  it.    Maires  and  ^chevins  would  fix  the  amount  to 

♦Colbert,  IV.    p.   44,   No.   20.    This  letter  uccompaiiied  the    report  of  the  royal 
commissioners. 

tMarchand.  p.  75. 

tBoyer  de  Ste.  Suzanne,  Pieces  just.,  p.  578. 


30  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

be  raised  far  above  the  immediate  municipal  needs,  and  then 
either  coolly  pocket  the  surplus,  or  expend  it  in  celebrations  and 
festivities.*  Towns  often  squandered  large  amounts  in  endless 
litigations  and  in  useless  expenses  of  one  sort  and  another.! 

It  was  this  chronic  state  of  disorder  that  the  government 
undertook  to  remedy.  One  of  the  first  cares  of  Colbert  was  to 
rid  the  communities  of  their  indebtedness,  "cette  vermine  qui  les 
rouge  continuellement."  Again  and  again,  in  letters  to  each  and 
all,  he  urges  the  intendants  to  effect  the  liquidation  of  the  debts 
of  the  towns,  t  The  task  was  a  heavy  one,  as  the  controlcur  him- 
self admitted,§  and  more  than  one  intendant  found  himself  help- 
less before  the  rings  and  the  bosses  of  these  unhappy  communities. 
When  the  intendant  addressed  himself  to  his  task  and  summoned 
the  inhabitants  of  a  village  to  assign  to  their  creditors,  he  would 
often  meet  with  no  response  except  from  the  poorer  people,  who 
were  totally  ignorant  of  public  affairs ;  the  really  responsible 
parties  would  simply  ignore  the  summons.  ||  In  the  larger  towns 
the  opposition  was  scarcely  less  effective,  though  it  was,  perhaps, 
less  open.  Summoned  to  present  their  accounts,  the  town  officials 
would  resort  to  the  most  exasperating  subterfuges  and  delays. 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  this  work 
of  the  intendants  protracted  through  a  long  series  of  years. 

Colbert  was  soon  persuaded  that  all  these  efforts  would  be 
only  palliatives,  if  no  measures  were  taken  to  prevent  the  commu- 
nities from  incurring  new  obligations  and  relapsing  into  their 
previous  condition.  A  few  months  of  misfortune,  or  maladminis- 
tration, sufficed  in  most  cases  to  plunge  small  communities 
into  their  former  helplessness.  In  1680  Colbert  requested  an 
expression  of  opinion  from  the  intendants  in  regard  to  measures 
best    adapted    to    meet    these     exigencies. If      The    intendants 

*  DeppinR,  I.  p.  606,  No.  .30. 

tDepping,  L  p.  8,59,  No.  110. 
Boisli.sle,  I.  Nos.  1812,  47fi. 

tin  1670  Colbert  wrote,  in  a  circular  letter  to  the  intendants,  "La  liquidation  des 
dettes  des  eommunautes  estant  importante  au  point  que  vous  le  sgavez  pour  le  soulasje- 
ment  des  peuples,  il  n'y  a  rien  a  quoy  vous  deviez  donner  plus  de  soin  et  d'application 
qu"a  la  conclusion  de  cette  affaire."'— Colbert,  IV.  p.  .50,  No.  3.5. 

§'"Je  sgais  bien  que  ce  travail  n'est  pas  un  travail  d'un  jour,  mais  j'estime  que  si 
vous  le  commencez  avec  ordre,  et  que.  sans  embrasser  toute  la  generalite,  vous  vous 
contentiez  de  travailler  a  une  seule  election  et  que  vous  y  donniez  toute  I'applicatioa 
ndcessaire,  vous  aurez  la  satisfaction  de  voir  avancer  ce  travail  beaucoup  plus  mesme 
que  vous  ne  le  croyez  " — Colbert,  IV.  p.  146,  No.  141. 

II  For  a  graphic  description  of  the  difficulties  that  one  intendant  encountered,  see 
Depping,  I.  p.  7.58.  No.  67. 

T  Colbert,  IV.  p.  138,  No.  133. 


UNDER    LOUIS    .\IV.  31 

responded,  each  with   his  own  project,  but  three  years  sHpped 
away  before  the  government  adopted  a  workable  scheme. 

The  details  of  the  plan  finally  adopted  have  a  right  to  a  place 
in  these  pages  only  in  so  far  as  they  bring  to  mind  the  burden  of 
accumulated  cares  which  the  intendant  bore.  In  the  first  place, 
the  system  provided  that  town  officials  should  submit  to  the 
intendant  of  the  generality  a  statement  of  the  town  revenues  and 
of  the  leases  [dcj/n-]  made  during  the  previous  ten  years,  together 
with  all  town  reports  which  had  hitherto  been  made.  With 
these  official  records  as  a  basis,  the  current  expenses  of  the  town, 
up  to  a  certain  amount,  were  to  be  fixed  by  the  intendant ; 
beyond  that  amount,  by  the  conseil  du  roi.  These  current 
expenditures  were  to  be  met  by  the  reveiines  patrimoniajtx*  or,  if 
these  sources  of  revenue  were  wanting,  by  such  ways  and  means 
as  the  inhabitants  should  determine  upon  in  assembly.  The  result 
of  these  deliberations,  with  the  intendant's  advice,  was  then  to  be 
submitted  to  the  conseil  for  approval  or  disapproval.  All  sales, 
loans,  and  alienations  of  property  and  of  octrois,  were  forbidden 
except  in  three  cases;  i.  e.,  for  the  lodging  of  troops,  for  the 
re-building  of  the  naves  of  churches  that  had  collapsed,  and  for 
relief  in  time  of  pestilence.  In  these  instances  the  people  might 
meet  in  assembly,  and  by  a  majority  vote  authorize  the  negotia- 
tion of  a  loan,  at  the  same  time  deciding  how  the  loan  should 
eventually  be  paid.  This  action  was  then  to  be  reported  to  the 
intendant,  who  might  approve  it  and  authorize  the  loan.  He  was 
then  in  turn  to  notify  the  conseil,  in  order  that  it  might  act 
upon  the  ways  and  means  proposed  to  repay  the  loan.  The 
moneys  loaned  were  to  be  lodged  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver, 
or  of  one  of  the  prorriinent  citizens,  who,  in  the  presence  of  the 
intendant,  was  to  render  to  the  maire  and  echevins,  or  to  the 
assembled  conmiunity,  an  exact  account  of  his  disbursements. 
Creditors  were  forbidden  to  bring  action  against  public  officials, 
even  for  the  recovery  of  legitimate  loans,  except  by  written  order 
of  the  intendant.  Communities  and  public  officials  were  forbid- 
den to  begin  any  suit  at  law,  or  to  send  a  deputation  of  citizens 
to  the  royal  court,  without  the  consent  of  the  people  given  in 
assembly,  and  aj^proved  by  the  intendant.  The  duration  and  the 
expenses  of  such  "deputations"  were  also  to  be  regulated  by  the 

♦The  expression  is  capable  of  various  interpretations.    What  is  meant  is  probably 
the  public  lands  or  estates  which  yielded  a  revenue  in  the  form  of  rent. 


32  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

intendant.*  Re-affirmations  of  this  edict  in  succeeding  yearsf 
indicate  how  difficult  it  was  for  even  the  watchful  intendants 
to  bring  order  into  the  financial  chaos  of  the  communities. 

Deputations  to  the  court  continued  to  be  a  fruitful  source  of 
expense,  even  when  honestly  conducted,  since  they  too  often 
served  no  other  purpose  than  to  satisfy  the  greed  of  certain 
leaders  of  the  ring  that  controlled  local  politics.  I  The  royal 
ministers  did  every'thing  in  their  power  to  check  this  practice. 
Colbert  was  most  emphatic  in  his  instructions  on  this  point,  since 
he  rightly  held  that  nothing  contributed  more  to  the  financial 
ruin  of  communities.  As  a  warning  against  future  deputations, 
he  told  one  intendant  that  he  had  kept  a  deputy  from  Marseille 
awaiting  an  audience  three  weeks  !§ 


Few  tasks  are  more  baffling  than  that  of  attempting  to  define 
precisely  the  functions  of  the  intendant  in  the  administration  ot 
justice.  The  picture  which  France  of  the  seventeenth  century 
presents,  with  its  bewildering  array  of  justices  ivy  a  Irs,  justices 
eccUsiastiques,  justices  seigneuriales,  and  even  justices  inunici- 
pales,  is  hazy  at  best,  but  it  loses  nerirly  all  its  distinct  outlines 
when  the  peculiar  relation  of  the  intendants  to  the  established 
courts  is  brought  into  the  field  of  vision,  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  no  edict  ever  created  the  office,  or  exactly  defined  its 
competence.  Nevertheless,  the  task  is  not  a  hopeless  one.  Two 
sources  remain  from  which  valuable  information  may  be  drav.n : 
the  commissions  and  the  instructions  of  the  intendants.  Lament- 
ably brief  and  woefully  contradictory  though  they  be,  these 
documents  may  be  made  to  yield  valuable  facts,  if  they  are  con- 
stantly compared  with  the  reports  of  the  intendants ;  but,  after 
all,  the  surest  course  is  to  follow  the  intendant  himself  in  his 
labors,  now  here  and  now  there. 

True  to  the  general  nature  of  his  office,  the  intendant 
possessed,  first  and  foremost,  general  supervisory  and  regulative 
power  over  the  courts  of  justice  and  over  their  personnel.     The 

♦Isambert.  XIX.  No.  1055. 

tit  was  re-issued  in  part  in  1687  and  1703:    Isambert.  XX.  Nos.  1263  and  1866. 

tTwo  astute  politicians  from  Provence,  who  were  sent  on  a  deputation  to  Pari.«  to 
conduct  a  lawsuit,  spent  some  12,000  livres  on  their  own  account  and  reckoned  in  that 
sum  as  part  of  their  legitimate  expenses.  The  intendant,  however,  was  equal  to  [l^e 
occasion  and  obliged  them  to  make  restitution:    Boislisle,  I.  p.  476. 

§  Colbert,  IV.  p.  164,  No.  163. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV,  33 

commission  of  Breteuil  read :  "Inf.^rmer  de  tous  les  abbus  quy 
se  commettent  en  radministration  de  la  justice,  soit  en  matieres 
civiles  par  la  longueur  et  la  multiplicity  de  procedures  inutiles 

comme  aussy  des  abbus  quy  se  rencontrent  aux  frais 

de  la  police,  de  tous  les  crimes  qui  resteront  impunis,  des  raisons 
et  fauteurs  de  cette  impunity,  exciter  mesme  et  provoquer  sur  ce 
sujet  suivant  nos  ordonnances  les  plaintes  de  ceux  quy,  par 
quelque  consideration  que  ce  soit,  n'ont  os6  et  n'ont  pu  se  plaindre 
jusqu'a  present,  informer  d'office  et  decretter  contre  ceux  quy  se 
trouveront  coupables  et  contre  lescjuels  les  juges  ordinaires  des 
lieux  ne  procederaient  pas  selon  le  debvoir  de  leur  charges  et 
envoier  vos  informations  et  decrets  en  nostre  conseil."*  Fur- 
thermore, the  intendant  was  enjoined  to  inspect  the  proch- 
verbaux  of  the  prevosts,  of  the  inarec}ianx,'\  and  of  other  inferior 
courts,  and  also  to  review  the  officers  of  the  court  to  see 
if  they  are  properly  equipped  and  armed,  "comme  ils  doibvent 
estre  pour  le  bien  de  nostre  service."  To  follow  the  intendant 
into  all  the  varied  activities  which  this  comprehensive  duty  of 
supen'ision  and  control  inspired,  would  be  a  most  remunerative 
study,  but  for  present  purposes  a  mere  sketch  must  suffice. 

Soon  after  entering  upon  his  duties  as  controleitr  general  and 
leading  counselor  of  the  king,  Colbert  saw  the  need  of  reform 
in  the  administration  of  justice.  It  was  probably  a  first  step  in 
this  direction  when  he  summoned  the  intendants  to  prepare 
careful  notes  on  the  personnel  of  the  various  courts  in  their 
generalities. $  It  was  a  delicate  undertaking.  How  well  the 
work  was  done,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  There  is  reason  to 
suspect  that  the  personal  equation  often  entered  largely  into 
these  estimates  of  character  and  efficiency;  but  the  persistent 
frequency  with  which  such  expressions  as  "inteirssd,"  ''de peu  de 
conscience^'  "ainie'  ses  intirests^'  repeat  themselves,  indicates  a 
sorry  state  of  things  in  the  provinces  and  the  necessity  of  a  sharp 

*  noyer  de  Ste.  Suzanue,  Pieces  jiistijicatives,  p.  581. 
The  commi.ssiou  to  Lebret  is  more  concise:  "Proceder  au  reKlement  et  rciforma- 
tion  de  la  justice  selon  nos  ordonnances,  reconnaitre  si  nos  offlcicrs  font  leur  devoir  en 
I'exercise  et  fonction  do  leurs  charges.  ouYr  les  plaintes  et  doliiauces  de  nos  sujets.  pour- 
voir  ou  faire  pourvoir  sur  icelles  par  les  offlciers  etablis  sur  les  licux  ou  autres  que  vous 
aviserez,  ordonner  aux  procureurs  dudit  pays,  consuls  des  villes  et  aux  prevots  des 
mariichaux,  leurs  lieutenants  grefflers  et  archers  et  autres  nos  justiciers.  ce  cjuc  vous 
verrez  etre  du  bien  de  ladite  province  et  de  notre  service."— Marchand,  Pieces  justifica- 
tives,  p.  362. 

t  These  courts  formed  a  part  of  the  justice  seigneur iale  du  roi.  and  took  cognizance 
of  those  cases,  which,  in  earlier  times,  had  belonged  to  the  coniuitable  of  I'^'rance,  as  head 
of  the  military  tribunals. 

i  "Notes  secrfetes  sur  le  personnel  de  tous  les  Parlements  et  cours  des  comptes  du 
royaume."— Depping,  II.  p.  33. 


34  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

watch  over  the  judiciary.  Eternal  vigilance  was  here  the  price 
of  simple  justice.  Charges  of  corruption  are  too  frequent 
throughout  the  reign  to  pemiit  any  doubt  as  to  the  venality  of 
the  courts.  "Je  suis  apres  a  faire  le  proces  aux  juges  de  village, 
qui  ruinent  les  peuples  par  la  grande  authorite  qu'ils  se  donnent, 
et  qui  traitent  de  tous  les  crimes  a  prix  d'argent,"*  wrote  de 
Berulle  from  Auvergne.  Somewhat  later,  this  same  intendant 
closed  an  account  of  the  corrupt  practices  in  the  courts  with  the 
pithy  comment,  "Enfin  tout  pille  en  ce  pays!'' 

The  formulation  of  the  Ordinance  of  1667, — the  Code  Louis, 
as  it  came  to  be  called, — was  another  step  forward  in  the  reform 
of  the  administration  of  justice.!  Its  purpose  is  indicated  in  the 
preamble,  where  reform  of  the  procedure  of  the  courts  in  the 
interest  of  despatch  and  uniformity  is  emphasized.  $  Obvious 
as  the  need  of  such  reform  was,  the  ordinance  met  with  resolute 
opposition  from  many  of  the  parlements;  that  of  Pau  resisted 
with  exasperating  obstinacy  for  nearly  a  score  of  years. §  Again 
the  government  had  to  rely  on  the  intendants,  and  again  they 
proved  themselves  equal  to  the  occasion. 

By  virtue  of  his  commission  the  intendant  was  empowered  to 
form  a  special  tribunal  and  pass  judgment  in  last  resort  upon 
certain  cases,  with  appeal  only  to  the  conseil;  in  a  certain  sense, 
he  was  himself  part  of  the  judicial  machinery  of  the  government. 
Although  the  form  of  the  commissions  varied,  the  competence  of 
the  intendants  was  substantially  the  same.  The  language  of  one 
commission  was :  "Voulant  que  des  cas  susditesH  et  des  contraven- 
tions a  nos  ordonnances,  exactions,  exces,  violences,  assassinats, 
et  autres  crimes,  meme  des  rebellions  et  autres  oppositions  ou 
empechements  qui  pourraient  etre  apportes  directement  ou  indi- 
rect ement  a  la  levee  de  nos  droit,  soit  par  nos  sujets  de  ladite 
province  et  terres  adjacentes,  soit  par  lesdits  gens  de  guerre  vous 
avez  a  faire  et  parfaire  le  proems  aux  coupables  jusques  a  juge- 

*  Boislisle,  I.  No.  24.5. 
Foucault  reported  from  Beam:  "Les  offlciers  du  Parlement  sent  peu  instruits 
et  mal  iatentionncs  pour  la  justice.  lis  ont  peu  de  soumission  aux  ordres  du  Roy  et 
du  conseil.  II  n'y  a  aucune  regie  dans  la  forme  de  rendre  les  .iugements,  les  offlciers 
demeurent  souvent  juges  dans  leur  propre  cause  ou  de  leurs  parens.'' — Boislisle,  L 
No.  47. 

tCheruel,  II.  p.  263  et  seq. 

tisambcrt,  XV^III.  p.  103. 

§The  struggle  of  Foucault  with  this  refractory  parlement  forms  an  interesting 
chapter  in  the  history  of  his  intendancy:     Memoires  de  FoucauH,  p.  110. 

II That  is:  "desordres,"  "menees  secretes,"  "tous  ports  d"armes,"  "assemblies 
illicites,"  "levees  des  gens  de  guerre  sans  commissions,"  "tous  d^lits,  violences  etexcfes." 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  35 

ment  definitif  et  execution  d'icelui  inclusivement  sans  appel  et 
en  dernier  ressort."* 

The  intendant  was  oblig-ed  to  associate  with  him  "des  juges 
ou  graduest  au  nombre  porte  par  nos  ordonnances;"  but  by  the 
terms  of  his  commission,  he  was  bidden,  whenever  he  deemed 
necessary,  "seoir  et  presider  en  tons  sieges  royaux  de  ladite 
province  et  autres  jurisdictions  d'icelle,"  and  it  is  often  impossible 
to  determine  from  the  ofBcial  correspondence  whether  the 
intendant  is  sitting  in  judgment  with  associates  in  a  special  court, 
or  in  some  one  of  the  presidiaux.  It  is  probable  that  so  long  as 
he  could  accomplish  what  he  desired  through  the  channels  of 
ordinary  justice,  the  intendant  forebore  to  constitute  himself  a 
special  tribunal.  The  necessity  of  choosing  associate  judges 
seems,  at  first  sight,  to  have  been  a  serious  limitation  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  intendant,  since  all  decisions  were  given  by 
majority  vote;  but  inasmuch  as  he  was  free  to  choose  whom  he 
liked,  he  could  nearly  always  be  sure  of  the  pliancy  of  his 
appointees,  t  In  point  of  fact,  the  intendant's  voice  was  usually 
determinative.  It  would  have  required  judges  of  more  than 
ordinary  stamina  to  thwart  what  was  tacitly  accepted  as  the 
will  of  the  king,  pronounced  through  his  own  agent  and 
representative. 

Besides  this  jurisdiction,  civil  and  criminal,  in  affairs  of  la 
justice  oj'dinaije,  the  intendant  possessed  other  important  duties. 
Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  jurisdiction  which  the 
intendant  exercised  in  suits  at  law  arising  from  ^'impositions  anx 
taxes  d' office"  in  the  pays  d' Election.  When  the  capitation§  was 
established  in  1695,  ^  royal  declaration  gave  entire  jurisdiction 
over  contested  cases  to  the  intendant.  ||  Litigations  arising  from 
the  building  of  highways  and  bridges  and  other  public  works, 
also  fell  within  the  competence  of  the  intendant. 

It  was  almost  inevitable  that  the  intendant  should  become 
involved  in  continual  wrangles  with  the  ordinary  courts  of 
justice.  Such  powers  as  have  been  described  created  the  possi- 
bility of  arbitrary  interference  in  the  course  of  justice;  and  the 

*Marchand,  Pieces  just.,  p.  363. 

t  The  term  gradues  was  applied  to  those  who  had  gained  the  title  of  docteur  en  droit. 

tMarcluiml,  p.  ;.'Tt). 

§  A  personal  tax  not  unlike  our  poll-tax. 

I  For  a  careful  statement  of  this  phase  of  the  intendant's  duties,  which  lies  beyond 
the  scope  of  the  present  study,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Dareste,  "  La  justice  administra- 
tive," pp.  119  et  seq. 


36  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

intendant  was  not  slow  in  taking  advantage  of  his  opportunities; 
often,  no  doubt,  out  of  mere  officiousness  or  mistaken  zeal  for  the 
service  of  his  royal  master.  Such  interference,  it  goes  without 
saying,  would  have  been  subversive  of  the  established  courts,  if 
it  had  been  capriciously  continued.  Again  and  again  the  ministry 
saw  itself  obliged  to  caution  meddlesome  intendants  to  avoid 
any  encroachment  upon  the  competence  of  the  ordinary  courts.* 
That  which  transformed  the  intendajit  dc  justice  from  a  mere 
judicial  functionary  with  powers  of  supervision,  and  made  of  him  a 
puissant,  royal  commissioner  in  matters  of  justice,  was  the  practice 
of  removing,  or  evoking,  cases  from  the  ordinary  courts  and  of  giving 
the  intendants  cognizance  of  them  by  an  arret  d' attribution.  Noth- 
ing contributed  more  to  extend  the  royal  power  in  the  provinces 
and  to  destroy  the  vestiges  of  independence  which  the  local  courts 
still  possessed.!  The  claim  had  long  been  recognized,  that  suits 
in  which  the  crown  had  an  interest  might  be  evoked  from  the 
ordinary  courts  of  justice  and  transferred  to  specially  designated 
tribunals.  By  the  very  slightest  extension  of  these  pretensions 
what  cases  might  not  be  withdrawn  from  the  ordinary  courts! 
If  the  course  of  justice  was  perverted  by  corrupt  judges  or 
obstructed  by  indifferent  ones,  an  arret  du  conseil  would  put  any 
cases  within  the  competence  of  the  intendant;  or,  if  the  royal 
ordinances  were  balked  by  the  spirit  of  particularism  that  still 
came  to  the  surface  now  and  then,  an  arret  du  conseil  would  leave 
the  intendant  undisputed  master  of  the  situation.  The  absolutism 
of  Louis  XIV.  preferred  silently  to  undermine  opposition,  but 
there  were  times  when  it  marched  ruthlessly  to  its  goal. 

*  Colbert,  VL  p.  30,  No.  18. 

t  De  Tocquevllle,  L'Ancien  Regime,  chap.  IV. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    POLICE    DUTIES    OF    THE    INTENDANT. 

If  the  charges  given  to  the  intendant  had  been  simply  finan- 
cial and  judicial,  they  would  have  made  him  an  officer  with 
wide-reaching  powers,  but  when  those  attributes  summed  up  in 
the  phrase  intendant  de  police  were  given  to  him,  the  intendant 
became  possessed  of  vast  authority.  The  modern  concept  of 
the  police  power,  as  the  power  to  watch  for  and  prevent 
infractions  upon  the  legitimate  sphere  of  individual  autonomy, 
is  none  too  clear;  in  the  seventeenth  century  no  distinctions  at 
all  were  drawn.  The  police  power  was  confounded  with  the 
entire  internal  administration  of  the  government.*  The  tendency 
of  the  crown  was  to  absorb  all  governmental  functions  and  to 
reduce  individual  initiative  and  local  autonomy  to  lowest  terms. 
This  self-imposed  task  of  absorption  and  restriction  made  impera- 
tive the  development  of  a  most  exacting  system  of  supervision 
and  control,  and  this  system  was  confided  to  the  intendants. 
In  its  broadest  extension  the  police  power  of  these  officers 
fairly  enveloped  the  internal  administrative  apparatus  of  the 
government. 

It  should  be  remarked  at  the  outset  that  the  very  nature  of 
the  duty  of  surveillance  and  control  confers  great  discretionary 
powers.  Where  the  royal  power  assumes  all  governmental  func- 
tions, it  must,  perforce,  act  through  agents  who  will  be  its  eyes 
and  ears.  Upon  them  it  must  rely  for  intimate  knowledge  of 
local  affairs  and  for  summary  action  in  exigencies  that  arise. 
There  must  come  times  when  the  whole  weight  of  royal  power 
must  be  vested  in  these  agents,  to  be  wielded  at  their  discretion. 
Such  circumstances  made  of  the  intendant  a  veritable  king, 
ruling  by  delegated  right.  It  was  these  considerations  that 
impressed  Law,  when  he  made  the  often-quoted  remark: 
"Sachez  que  ce  royaume  de  France  est  gouvern(5  par  trente 
intendants.    Vous  n'avez  ni  parlements,  ni  6tats,  ni  gouverneurs ; 

♦Burgess,  Comparative  Constitutional  L,aw,  I.  pp.  214,  215. 


38  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

ce  sont  trente  maitres  des  requetes  commis  aux  provinces  de  qui 
dependent  le  malheur  ou  le  bonheur  de  ces  provinces,  leur 
abondance,  ou  leur  sterility." 

Nearly  all  commissions  agree  in  according  to  the  intendants 
the  task  of  maintaining  the  public  peaice,  in  so  far  as  it  should 
be  threatened  by  the  soldiers  in  garrison  in  their  generalities,  or 
by  any  riotous  subjects  of  the  king.  The  charge  was  usually 
given  in  such  language  as  this:  "Aussi  vous  vous  enquerrez  du 
d^portement  et  fa^on  de  vivre  des  gens  de  guerre,  qui  sont  ou 
seront  ci-apr6s  en  garnison  dans  les  villes  et  places  dudit  pays,  et 
si  I'ordre  par  nous  ^tabli  pour  le  payement  de  leur  solde,  vivres, 
routes,  et  logement  est  entierement  garde  et  observe,  vous 
employant  a  ce  qu'ils  soient  contenus  sous  la  discipline  militaire 
et  ne  se  licencient  en  rien  k  la  foule  et  oppression  de  nos  sujets."* 
Although  this  particular  duty  dated  back  undoubtedly  to  the 
earliest  days  of  the  institution,  it  had  by  no  means  become  a  mere 
formality.  The  succession  of  edicts  and  ordinances  emanating 
from  the  conseil,  to  restram  the  license  of  the  soldiery,  attest  the 
lawlessness  of  the  times  and  the  necessity  for  these  injunctions  to 
the  intendants.t  The  reports  of  the  intendants  are  full  of  tales 
of  lawless  deeds  committed  by  the  regular  army  as  well  as  by  the 
militia.  I 

In  the  exercise  of  this,  as  in  so  many  of  his  duties,  the 
intendant  was  brought  face  to  face  with  other  officers,  within 
whose  competence  the  matters  properly  belonged  which  were 
confided  to  him  in  this  general  way.  Military  discipline  belonged 
of  right  to  the  commanders  of  the  army,  or  to  courts  martial ;  the 
intendant  might  not  interfere.  It  was  only  when  friction  of  any 
sort  arose  between  soldier  and  civilian,  that  the  intendant  assumed 
jurisdiction;  but  here  again  was  the  possibility  of  conflict,  if  the 
intendant  intrenched  too  far  upon  the  disciplinary  powers  of  the 
commandants.  The  wise  course,  and  that  which  the  intendant 
usually  and  tactfully  adopted,  was  to  suffer  the  military  authority 
to  precede  his  own,  and  to  act  only  in  default  of  action  by  the 
military  tribunals.  §     The   competence   of   the   intendant   when 

*  Lebret's  commission  in  Provence,  from  Marchand,  p.  362. 

tlsambert,  XVIII.  Nos.  530,  .531,  .53.5;  also  XIX.  No.  694,  and  XX.  No.  1944. 

t  "J'ajouteray  encore,"  wrote  the  intendant  of  Moulins,  "avec  vostre  permission, 
que  rien  ne  mine  plus  le  plat  pays  que  cette  milice;  ils  font  des  concussions,  des 
violences,  plus  que  toutes  les  autres  troupes  reglues."  Boislisle,  I.  No.  1428;  see  also 
Boislisle,  L  No.  11.58. 

§  Dareste,  La  ju$tice  administrative  en  France,   pp.  132,  133.     The  chapter  on  the 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  39 

constituting  an  extraordinary  tribunal,  has  already  been  noted.  Its 
decisions  were  summary  and  forceful;  the  culprit  rarely  escaped 
judgment,  and  punishment  was  speedy  and  sure.  In  the  memoirs 
of  Foucault  there  is  this  significant  item  :  "J'ai  condamne  deux 
dragons  du  regiment  de  Tess6  a  etre  pendus,  pour  avoir  tue  un 
consul  et  un  habitant  de  Beaumont  qui  avoient  voulu  [les 
empecher  de]  violer  lafemmedeleur  bote."*  Again,  "Les  troupes 
ont  fait  beaucoup  de  d^sordres  dans  leurs  quartiers,  cette  ann^e 

et  j'ai  ^te  oblig^  de  punir  plusieurs  oflficiers  et  de 

faire  pendre  des  cavaliers,  dragons,  et  soldats."t  The  thorough- 
going character  of  Foucault's  administration  of  justice  is 
evidenced  by  a  letter  from  Louvois,  in  which  the  intendant  was 
warned  not  to  cut  oflf  the  noses  of  deserters  too  short,  since  the 
complete  loss  of  that  valuable  member  made  the  victim  unfit  for 
service  on  the  galleys.  I 

Much  the  same  policy  was  followed  by  the  intendant  in  the 
suppression  of  riots,  and  other  public  disturbances  of  a  more 
serious  type.  When  the  course  of  ordinary  justice  failed,  or  when 
the  ordinary  ofificers  for  the  maintenance  of  the  public  peace  were 
unable  to  cope  with  the  disorders,  then  the  intendant  made  the 
weight  of  his  influence  felt.  At  his  beck  and  call  was  the  entire 
police  force  of  the  generality,  for  by  virtue  of  his  commission  he 
might  summon  the  i)iarecJia7tsee,%  or  even  the  regular  troops,  to 
assist  him  in  the  preservation  of  law  and  order.  The  intendant 
was  rarely  obliged  to  resort  to  this  last  measure,  for  the  mere 
threat  usually  sufficed  to  sober  the  hot-heads.  An  intendant  at 
Moulins  has  left  an  unusually  graphic  account  of  a  riot  that 
occurred  in  his  generality,  and  of  the  way  in  which  it  was 
suppressed.  A  rumor  that  the  gab  ell c  was  to  be  established  in 
the  town  of  Aubusson  had  thrown  the  people  into  despair.  In 
their  rage  the  women  pillaged  one  of  the  depots  of  salt,  and  a 
riotous  demonstration  ensued.  The  arrival  of  the  intendant  on 
the  scene  and  his  threat  to  summon  a  regiment  of  dragoons 
brought  the  rabble  to  their  senses.     In  the  presence  of  the  royal 

judicial  functions  of  the  intendants  is  admirable,  although  much  is  applicable  to  the 
intendants  of  the  eighteenth  rather  than  to  those  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

*  Mrmoires  de  Fortcnult,  p.  3;J. 

t  Mcmoire.8  de  Foucault,  p.  .36. 

t  M('moi7-es  de  Foucault,  p.  1.51.  Loss  of  nose  and  condemnation  to  galley-service 
■was  the  punishment  for  desertion  prescribed  by  ordinance. 

§  Mounted  police. 


40  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

agent  they  seemed  to  realize  for  the  first  time  the  enormity  of 
their  offence  and  the  probable  consequences  of  it.  As  the 
intendant  passed  through  the  streets,  men  and  women  threw 
themselves  at  his  feet,  begging  for  mercy,  like  repentant  children. 
With  a  mixture  of  paternal  kindness  and  official  severity,  the 
intendant  succeeded  in  restoring  order  and  in  persuading  the 
people  to  restore  the  depot  which  they  had  destroyed  in  such 
rebellious  fashion.* 


Object  of  special  solicitude  to  the  intendants  was  ihe.  gabellc 
and  the  abuses  and  disorders  which  that  pernicious  institution 
entailed.  Tlie  term  had  come  to  be  applied  solely  to  the  excise 
duties  on  salt,  which  were  farmed  out  on  conditions  that  varied 
greatly  in  different  parts  of  the  realm. t  Usually  the  farmers  of 
the  gabelle  paid  a  fixed  sum  to  the  king  and  thereby  acquired  the 
right  to  exploit  his  subjects.  Where  special  tribunals  \_greniei's 
a  sel'\  took  cognizance  of  all  infractions  of  the  ordinances  and  had 
a  constabulary  force  to  secure  respect  for  the  law,  the  intendant's 
duties  were  largely  the  familiar  one  of  surveillance.  He  had  to 
see  to  it,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  people  were  not  victimized 
by  the  rapacity  of  the  farmers  of  the  gabelle,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  the  latter  were  not  defrauded  by  the  all  too  prevalent 
practice  of  smuggling  salt  from  the  more  favored  districts  into 
those  where  the  gabelle  rested  with  crushing  weight  upon  the 
people. 

In  many  parts  of  France  a  contraband  trade  in  salt  was 
carried  on  with  almost  no  attempt  at  concealment.  Near  Amiens 
an  organized  band  of  forty  desperadoes,  who  styled  themselves 
"la  bande  royal e,"  pursued  their  illicit  trade  with  the  greatest 
audacity,  t  The  intendant  who  reported  this  state  of  things 
declared  that  half  of  the  gaj'des  des  gabelles%  were  bribed  and 

*  Boislisle,  II.  No.  598.    For  a  similar  instance  see  Boislisle,  U.  No.  703. 

t  See  Chc^ruel.  Dictionnaire  hist,  des  institutions,  etc.,  article  gabelle:  also  Rambaud, 
Hist,  de  la  civilisation  frangaise,  pp.  160,  161;  also  Dareste,  Hist,  de  I'admin.  en  France, 
pp.  101-103.  France  was  divided  into  five  distinct  districts:  the  pays  de  grandes  gabellei, 
in  which  the  excise  was  assessed  very  much  like  the  taille,  or  in  which  freedom  of  pur- 
chase was  permitted  with  a  minimum  fixed  by  law  for  each  person  and  for  each  family; 
the  pays  de  petites  gabelles;  the  pai/s  de  salines,  where  the  excise  was  levied  with  refer- 
ence to  the  marshes  from  which  salt  was  obtained;  the  pays  ridimes,  where  the  people 
were  forced  to  buy  at  a  fixed  price  of  authorized  merchants;  %\xepays  exempts,  where 
the  conditions  were  sim.ilar  to  those  in  the  pays  ridimis. 

X  Boislisle,  I.  No.  415. 

§  Special  constables  or  police  ofQcers,  in  the  pay  of  the  farmers  of  the  gabelle. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  41 

themselves  engaged  in  smuggling.  In  some  districts  the  soldiers 
made  common  cause  with  the  smugglers,  and  offered  open 
resistance  to  the  gardes.  The  intendant  of  Berry  reported  a 
pitched  battle  between  the  gardes  and  a  mixed  band  of 
smugglers  and  cavaliers.  The  latter  made  good  their  retreat, 
but  only  with  the  loss  of  several  of  their  number.*  Such  inci- 
dents were  by  no  means  isolated.!  In  Champagne  the  gardes  were 
practically  powerless  before  the  bands  of  dragoons  and  cavaliers, 
so  that  the  intendant  appealed  to  the  king  to  forbid  the  com- 
manders of  troops  to  allow  their  men  to  leave  their  rooms  at 
night.  The  commanders,  he  maintained,  were  responsible  for 
these  disorders,  inasmuch  as  they  granted  leave  of  absence  to 
their  men  in  order  to  profit  by  the  pay  which  was  thus  forfeited.! 
Auvergne  was  one  of  thepaj/s  redimes  and  enjoyed  in  conse- 
quence a  relative  degree  of  freedom  from  the  hated  excise  on 
salt,  but  as  it  bordered  upon  pays  de  grandes  gabelles,  its 
frontiers  were  infested  with  smugglers.  Since  public  opinion 
countenanced  the  traffic,  and  even  gentlemen  of  position  partici- 
pated in  it,  the  intendant  was  well  nigh  powerless.  The 
magistrates  of  the  presidial,  he  declared,  were  "sous  le  coup  de 
la  terreur;"  prisoners  easily  escaped  the  clutches  of  the  law  by 
liberal  bribes ;  processes  carried  on  appeal  to  the  conrs  des  aides 
were  ineffectual.  For  two  years  nothing  had  been  done  to 
repress  the  disorders.§  In  spite  of  this  discouraging  outlook,  the 
intendant  began  a  series  of  energetic  measures.  Stationing  four 
companies  of  dragoons  in  the  border  parishes,  he  had  the  gardes 
deployed  in  brigades  near  by,  so  that  they  might  be  in 
communication  with  his  troops  and  might  be  detected  if  they 
connived  at  any  smuggling.  Menaced  by  the  irate  inhabitants, 
these  brigades  had  to  withdraw  temporarily,  but,  nothing  daunted, 
the  intendant  remanded  them  to  their  post  and  publicly  declared, 
that  if  any  harm  were  done  to  them,  the  village  would  be  held 
responsible  and  would  be  burned.  In  a  single  village  four  people 
were  hanged,  and  ten  condemned  to  the  galleys  for  smuggling. H 
And  when  even  this  ruthless  severity  did  not  suffice  to  intimidate 

*  Boislisle,  I.  No.  1482. 
+  See  also  Boislisle,  II.  No.  668. 
X  Boislisle,  I.  No.  1883. 
§  Boislisle,  II.  No.  729. 

II  In  Jill  probability  the  intendant  vcas  acting  under  authority  of  arrets  dti  conseil. 
See  Boislisle.  II.  No.  729. 

Boislijle,  II.  No.  753. 


42  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

the  obstinate  village  folk,  he  summoned  them  to  a  public 
assembly  and  forbade  any,  on  pain  of  being  prosecuted  as  a 
smuggler,  to  leave  the  parish  for  more  than  two  days,  without  a 
certificate  from  the  parish  priest.  Twice  a  week  a  sub-delegate 
was  to  call  the  roll  of  the  inhabitants  to  catch  any  delinquents. 

In  Languedoc,  which,  with  Provence,  formed  a  part  of  the 
pays  de  grandes  gabelles,  the  situation  was  almost  as  desperate. 
Bloody  encounters  between  smugglers  and  gardes  occurred,  in 
spite  of  the  preventive  efforts  of  the  intendant.  "II  faut  parvenir 
a  faire  de  grandes  exemples,"  he  wrote  to  the  controlcnr,  "qui 
n'ont  pas  ete  faits  jusqu'a  cette  heure  parceque  le  directeur  a 
poursuivi  ces  affaires  devant  le  juge  des  gabelles,  jurisdiction 
foible,  ou  rien  n'avance,  sujette  a  I'appel  a  la  cour  des  aides.* 
He  asked  an  arret  d' attribution  giving  him  power  to  pass 
sentence  upon  the  culprits ;  and  upon  receipt  of  it,  he  promptly 
sentenced  one  to  the  gallows  and  condemned  to  infamous  memory 
two  others,  who  had  died  of  wounds  received.!  Some  months 
later  he  sentenced  a  batch  of  smugglers,  twenty-four  in  number, 
to  various  punishments :  five  were  sent  to  the  galleys  for  nine 
years,  one  for  life;  others  were  either  banished,  fined,  or  sent  to 
the  whipping-post  or  pillory.  $  Not  all  the  intendants  prosecuted 
the  smugglers  so  vigorously.  De  Harouys  in  Champagne  was 
particularly  lenient  toward  them,  either  from  kindness  of  heart 
or  from  indifference,  so  that  he  was  sharply  reprimanded.  On 
the  margin  of  a  letter  in  which  the  intendant  reported  the 
sentences  passed  by  him,  the  directeur  des  finances  wrote:  "Ecrire 
a  M.  de  Harouys  que  I'indulgence  a  I'egard  de  ceux  qui  commet- 
tent  le  faux-saunage  attire  de  plus  grands  maux  que  la  severite 
des  jugements.  Les  edits  et  declarations  6tablissent  de  plus 
grandes  peines  dont  on  ne  doit  point  se  departir."§ 

The  reverse  side  of  this  gloomy  picture  of  crime  and  ruthless 
punishment  appears  from  letters  of  the  intendants  revealing  the 
abuses  perpetrated  by  the  farmers  of  the  gabelle  and  their 
employes.     At  Moulins,  the  intendant  found  the  clerks  of  salt 

*Boislisle,  XL  No.  714. 

tBoislisle,  II.  No.  714,  note. 

iBoisllsle,  II.  No.  921,  note.  Turgot  had  to  contend  with  similar  lawlessness  in  the 
generality  of  Tours.    Boislisle,  II.  No.  845. 

§  Boislisle,  II.  No.  1308,  note.  The  penalties  had  been  defined  by  successive  edicts. 
Smugglers  who  were  convicted  of  having  prosecuted  their  trade  in  armed  bands  of  ten 
or  more  were  to  be  condemned  to  tne  galleys  for  nine  years;  and  for  life  if  the  offence 
was  repeated.  Cavaliers,  dragoons,  and  soldiers  convicted  of  faux-saunage  were  to  be 
sent  to  the  galleys.    Isambert,  XIX.  Nos.  9,=)t;  and  1041. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV. 


43 


magazines,  in  return  for  an  interest  in  the  company,  persuading 
the  measurers  to  give  shoit  weight  to  the  people.  Then,  too,  tlie 
salt  sold  to  the  people  was  often  inferior  in  quality,  so  that  it  was 
unfit  for  use.  In  sheer  self-defence  the  people  were  forced  to 
resort  to  smugglers  who  could  supply  them  with  a  better  quality.* 
Such  frauds  and  abuses,  it  hardly  need  be  added,  were  extremely 
difficult  to  detect.  Only  through  sub-delegates  and  detectives 
could  the  intendant  cope  with  the  maladministration  that  was 
only  too  common. 

To  the  special  vigilance  of  the  intendants  were  recommended 
"vagabonds  et  gens  sans  aveu."  An  arret  du  conseil  of  1673  had 
ordered  all  vagrants  to  quit  the  realm  within  a  month,  on  pain  of 
condemnation  to  the  galley s.f  The  intendants  were  enjoined 
"de  tenir  la  main  a  son  entiere  execution,  n'y  ayant  rien  de  plus 
important  que  de  purger  toutes  les  provinces  de  ces  sortes  de 
gens."  In  this  class  were  included  those  nondescripts  who 
went  under  the  name  of  BoJiinics,  and  who,  so  far  as  their 
predatory  habits  are  concerned,  strongly  resemble  our  gypsies. 
The  intendants  were  to  treat  these  Bohentes  with  the  greatest 
severity  that  the  law  allowed,  "Sa  Majeste  voulant  purger  son 
royaume  de  toute  cette  canaille,  qui  ne  sert  qu'a  tourmenter  et 
piller  les  peuples."1:  To  this  task  the  intendants  addressed  them- 
selves with  all  the  greater  zeal,  since  they  were  well  aware  that 
Hi?  Majesty  had  other  reasons  than  concern  for  the  peace  of  the 
provinces,  in  desiring  these  poor  beggars  to  be  sent  to  the  galleys, ' 

The  Mediterranean  flotilla  had  long  been  the  pet  care  ot 
Colbert.  To  make  it  more  than  a  match  for  all  opponents  was 
his  constant  endeavor,  and  he  had  for  this  purpose  sought  to 
increase  the  number  and  size  of  the  galleys,  in  the  fighting 
ability  of  which  he  had  great  confidence.  The  difficulty  came  in 
manning  these  vessels.  No  man  would  voluntarily  enter  upon 
the  frightful  life  of  a  galley  oarsman;  slaves  could  scarcely  be 
forced  into  galley  service;  and  when  the  supply  of  slaves  ran 
short,  the  convicts  who  filled  the  loathsome  prisons  of  the  land 
were   pressed    into    service. §      Even    this    resource    was   soon 

♦  Boislisle,  I.  Nos.  408  and  610. 
t  Colbert,  IV.  p.  93,  No.  83. 
t  Colbert,  IV.  p.  141,  No.  135. 

§One  has  only  to  read  the  accounts  of  the  prisons  given  by  the  intendants  to 
understand  why  a  c'rimiual  should  prefer  the  galleys.    See  Boislisle,  II.  No.  1061. 


44  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

exhausted.  Few  convicts  serving  their  terms  in  the  prisons  were 
fitted  for  the  laborious  Hfe  of  the  galleys;  the  noisome  dungeons 
and  scanty,  unwholesome  fare  of  the  jails  wrecked  the  strongest 
constitutions.  In  these  straits  Colbert  sought  recruits  from 
among  the  condemned  criminals  whom  the  courts  sent  daily  to 
prison.  Pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  judges  to 
multiply  the  number  of  condemnations  to  the  galleys,  even  if  the 
law  had  to  be  strained  to  make  the  penalty  fit  the  crime  * 

The  intendants  were  keenly  alive  to  the  needs  of  the 
government,  and  left  no  stone  unturned  to  curry  favor  with  the 
king  and  Colbert.  They  visited  the  courts  of  law  to  stir  up 
indolent  judges;  they  went  through  the  prisons  in  search  of  able- 
bodied  convicts;  they  scoured  the  country  around  for  smugglers 
and  vagrants  whom  they  might  send  summarily  to  Toulon;  they 
listened  for  any  rumors  of  sedition  that  they  might  pounce  upon 
the  offenders.  Their  letters  are  full  of  accounts  of  how  they  have 
made  up  ^Hine  belle  chaisne"  to  send  to  the  galleys;  they 
discourse  with  evident  relish  upon  convicts  whom  they  have 
discovered  to  be  "bons  honinies  et  vigorenx  et  fort  propres  pour 
servif,"  etc.t 

The  intendants  were  often  put  to  it,  to  provide  for  the 
miserable  wretches  condemned  to  the  galleys,  until  the  chain 
gang,  on  its  way  to  Toulon,  should  claim  them.  If  economy 
cautioned  against  too  great  expense  in  feeding  them,  it  also 
warned  against  starving  them,  for  many,  weakened  by  hunger, 
succumbed  to  the  hardship  of  the  fearful  march  to  the  coast.  If 
his  contingent  was  sufficiently  large,  the  intendant  made  up  his 
own  gang  and  committed  it  to  paid  conductors,  who  demanded 
so  high  as  80  or  100  livres  for  every  man  delivered  at  Toulon. 
The  losses  on  the  route  were  frightful.!  Of  96  men  in  one 
chain  gang  from  the  generalities  of  Touraine,  Anjou  and 
Orleans,  33  died  on  the  way  to  Lyons. §  For  the  horrors  of  this 
iniquitous  traffic  the  intendants  were  only  indirectly  responsible; 
they  were  but  the  agents  of  the  crown.     The  spirit  animating 

*  Depping,  II.  p.  940,  No.  37. 

tDepping.  II.  p.  874,  No.  2;  also  II.  p.  941.  No.  37. 

X  Deppinp.  II.  p.  87.^,  No.  2.  As  this  was  simply  a  business  contract,  the  conduct  of 
these  conducteurs  des  chaines  was  dictated  only  by  heartless  self-interest.  The  treat- 
ment of  the  unhappy  victims  was  such  as  to  shock  the  better  classes  of  people  even  in 
that  age,  so  accustomed  to  demoralizing  spectacles.  See  Depping,  II.  p.  934,  No.  30;  also 
II.  p.  908,  et  seq.;  also  II.  p.   881,  No.  5. 

§  Depping,  II.  p.  893. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  45 

the  government  appears  in  a  note  from  the  hand  of  Colbert: 
"Dans  la  n6cessit6  pr^sente  ou  le  roy  est  de  fortifier  les  chiourmes 
des  ses  galeres,  c'est  une  bonne  nouvelle  pour  Sa  Majeste  qu'il  y 
eust  trente  bons  formats  dans  la  conciergerie  de  Rennes "* 


It  frequently  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  intendant,  as  the  most 
facile  agent  of  the  crown,  to  aid  in  the  censorship  of  the  press. 
Louis  XIV.,  who  was  particularly  anxious  lest  the  doctrine  of 
Jansenism  should  be  disseminated  through  books  and  tracts,  had 
the  intendants  institute  a  general  inquiry  into  the  number  and 
resources  of  publishers  and  booksellers  in  their  generalities.! 
One  intendant  was  commissioned  to  visit  the  printing  offices  m 
Rouen  and  to  arrest  any  printers  in  whose  possession  certain 
books  condemned  by  the  censors  were  found.  $  Equally  unpleas- 
ant missions  were  given  to  other  intendants,  as  when  Baville  was 
enjoined  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout  for  "un  libelle  manuscrit,  tr^s- 
seditieux,"  in  Languedoc,§  and  De  Courson  was  made  to  search 
the  printing  offices  of  Rouen  to  find  the  publisher  of  Vauban's 
Projet  de  dixmc  royalc.\  To  such  lengths  will  absolutism  go,  to 
stamp  out  the  semblance  of  resistance ! 


That  system  of  tutelage  over  agriculture,  manufacturing,  and 
commerce,  which  the  French  monarchy  had  established  by  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  which  proved  so  disastrous 
to  the  political  and  economic  independence  of  the  people,  was 
foreshadowed  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  It  would  have  been 
strange  if  a  government  so  intrusive  in  its  anxiety  for  its  fiscal 
afifairs  had  not  shown  a  strong  tendency  to  control  and  develop 
those  natural  resources  from  which  its  wealth  ultimately  was 
derived ;  it  would  have  been  still  more  remarkable  if  that  govern- 
ment had  not  confided  many  of  these  new  cares  to  those  officers 
most  intimately  acquainted  with  the  resources  of  the  provinces. 

The  extreme  solicitude  for  the  state  of  agriculture  that  finds 
expression  in  repeated  letters  from  the  controleiirs  to  the  intend- 

*  Depping,  II.  p.  930,  No.  2.5. 

tDepping.  II.  p.  ,598. 

\  Depping,  II.  p.  707. 

§  Deppinfj.  II.  p.  840.  No.  109.  The  title  was  Avis  h  tons  Its  alliez  protestans  et  catho- 
liques  romnins,  princes  et  peuples  souvernim  et  svjets,  sur  le  aeooura  gu'on  doit  donner  aux 
soulevez  des  Cevennes.     It  bore  the  date  170.j. 

|]  Depping,  II.  p.  861,  No.  190. 


46  THE    INTENDANT   AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

ants  can  be  easily  appreciated  when  one  reflects  how  great  the 
dependence  of  the  people  was  upon  the  produce  of  the  soil.  To 
a  great  degree  the  amount  that  the  government  was  to  realize 
from  the  taille  depended  upon  the  condition  of  agriculture. 
Hence,  those  innumerable  letters,  already  noted,  calling  upon  the 
intendants  for  detailed  statements  regarding  the  prosperity  or 
the  misfortunes  of  their  generalities.  "Do  not  trust  others,  see 
for  yourselves,"  is  the  often  recurring  warning  of  the  contro- 
leiir, —  and  the  intendants  did  see  for  themselves  with  aston- 
ishing fidelity.  Almost  insensibly  they  assumed  a  tacit 
guardianship  over  their  generalities,  suggesting  remedies  for  the 
misfortunes  of  this  or  that  parish,  and  making  themselves 
petitioners  in  behalf  of  the  unhappy  peasants.  One  intendant 
reported  a  large  extent  of  uncultivated  land  in  his  generality, 
which  had  been  abandoned  by  the  discouraged  peasants,  and 
ventured  to  ask  the  king  to  be  allowed  to  distribute  seed  among 
them  in  the  hope  of  persuading  them  to  resume  cultivation.*  To 
such  requests  the  king  lent  a  ready  ear.  Some  60,000  livres 
were  appropriated  to  purchase  grain  for  seed,  but  on  condition 
that  the  recipients  should  repay  the  government  from  the  next 
year's  harvest.f  "Le  Roi,"  said  the  prudent  Colbert,  "r^p^te 
toujours  qu'il  n'y  a  rien  de  plus  dangereux  que  de  laisser  croire 
aux  paysans  que  les  plus  paresseux  seront  les  plus  heureux  ou  en 
ne  payant  pas  ou  en  s'attirant  des  charit^s." 

A  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  displace 
individual  initiative  by  direct  control  manifested  itself  increas- 
ingly, as  the  stress  of  outward  circumstance  was  felt.  During  the 
wars  of  Louis  XIV.  certain  elections  on  the  frontier  were 
forbidden  to  sow  wheat,  lest  it  should  furnish  sustenance  to  the 
enemy  in  case  of  invasion;  but  the  inhabitants  might  sow  otlier 
cereals  ["d'autres  petits  grains"]  for  their  own  support,  t  When 
the  peasants  on  one  occasion  refused  to  sow  their  fields,  for  fear 
of  a  general  famine,  the  conscil  issued  a  general  decree,  ordering 
the  lands  to  be  sowed  as  usual;  i.  e.,  with  the  same  grains  and  at 
the  same  time  as  in  previous  years.  The  intendants  were  given 
authority  to  carry  out  the  spirit  of  this  decree  by  special  ordi- 

*Boislisle,  I.No.  585. 

t  Boislisle,  I.  Nos.  628,  664. 

%  Boislisle,  I.  No.  746. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  47 

nances  of  their  own.*  Far  more  pernicious  was  the  practice  of 
regulating  by  ordinances  the  circulation,  exportation,  and  impor- 
tation of  cereals  in  the  provinces.  These  ordinances  always  had 
reference  to  special  localities  and  to  special  provinces.  They  were 
not  dictated  by  mere  caprice,  as  might  appear  at  first  sight,  but 
were  based  on  statistical  information,  more  or  less  exact,  fur- 
nished by  the  intendants.  In  general,  prohibition  of  the  free 
circulation  of  grains  was  the  rule;  exportation  or  importation 
from  one  province  to  another  was  only  temporarily  and  locally 
permitted.!  More  than  one  intendant  protested  against  a  policy 
of  restriction  and  interference  which  he  saw  meant  disaster  for 
his  province;  but  when  want  came,  as  it  often  did  come,  through 
the  mistaken  intermeddling  of  the  government,  he  could  only 
relieve  the  people  by  palliatives.  Inasmuch  as  the  ministry 
assumed  the  direction  of  the  commerce  in  grain,  the  intendant's 
duties  in  such  matters  were  largely  informatory.  He  visited  the 
parishes  of  his  generality  at  least  once  a  year  to  observe  the 
condition  of  the  crops  ;t  he  made  careful  estimates  of  the  quantity 
of  grain  upon  reports  furnished  by  his  sub-delegates  ;§  he  watched 
the  market  carefully  and  noted  the  fluctuations  in  prices  ;||  he 
kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  speculators  ;1[  and  of  all  these  observa- 
tions he  made  most  minute  reports  to  the  controleiir general. 

Colbert  was  particularly  desirous  of  establishing  studs  for 
the  breeding  of  cavalry  horses,  throughout  the  grazing  districts 
of  France.  He  sent  out  a  commissioner  in  1663,  to  report  upon 
the  condition  of  the  studs,  and  urged  the  intendants  to  assist  him 
in  every  possible  way  in  this  matter,  which  was  of  such 
importance  to  the  state.''  Probably  as  the  result  of  their  efforts, 
more  than  500  stallions  were  distributed  within  seven  years 
among  the  generalities.^  The  care  of  these  Jiaras  was  com- 
mended to  the  intendants  in  that  insistent  language  so  character- 
istic of  the  ministers  when  impressing  upon  the  intendants  the 
importance  of  new  departures.^ 

*Isambert,  XX.  No.  \^'l\. 

t  Monin,  Histoire  administrative  du  Languedoc,  p.  289. 
tBoislisle.  I.  No.  1228. 
SBoislisle,  I.  No.  12.m 
II  Boislisle,  I.  No.  12S5. 
*{  Boislisle,  I.  No.  1718,  note. 
"  Colbert,  IV.  p.  206,  No.  14. 
'Colbert,  IV.  p.  206,  No.  37. 
8  Colbert,  IV.  p.  285,  No.  104. 


48  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

The  responsibility  of  the  intendants  was  even  greater  in 
connection  with  the  manufacturing  interests  of  France,  since  the 
policy  of  the  government  was  dictated  less  by  precedent  and 
more  by  the  judgment  of  the  intendants.  Whenever  the  govern- 
ment proposed  to  establish  new  industries  in  the  country,  it 
almost  invariably  turned  to  the  intendants  to  learn  what  natural 
advantages  for  such  industries  their  generalities  possessed.*  On 
the  other  hand,  a  prospective  proprietor  of  a  new  industry  would 
very  often  make  the  intendant  his  confidant,  hoping  through  him 
to  reach  the  ear  of  the  king.f  As  new  industries  began  to 
multiply,  under  the  fostering  care  of  Colbert,  the  duty  of  encoui- 
aging  and  protecting  them  devolved  more  and  more  upon  the 
intendants ;  at  the  same  time,  as  a  steadily  increasing  source  of 
wealth,  these  industries  had  to  be  taken  into  consideration  in 
estimating  the  tax-bearing  capacity  of  the  people. 

Owing  to  the  indifference,  or  bigotry,  of  local  magistrates, 
and  to  natural  obstacles,  many  of  these  infant  industries  had  a 
hard  struggle  for  existence.  It  is  interesting  to  see  the  personal 
responsibility  that  Colbert  felt  for  the  success  of  his  policy. 
'"You  will  do  me  a  special  favor,"  he  wrote  to  the  intendants,  "if 
you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  take  time  to  make  one  or  two  tours  of 
inspection  every  year."!  One  Van  Robais,  a  Protestant  from 
Holland,  who  had  begun  a  manufactory  of  textile  fabrics  at 
Abbeville,  was  the  special  ward  of  Colbert,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  frequent  interchange  of  letters  in  regard  to  him 
between  the  contToIcnr  and  the  intendant  of  the  generality.§ 
Every  two  months  the  intendant,  or  his  delegate,  visited  the 
factory  to  record  the  number  of  operatives  and  to  examine  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  the  goods  manufactured.  If  the  need 
was  urgent,  the  intendant  made  grants  of  money  to  the  manu- 
facturer. Such  timely  aid  enabled  more  than  one  entirprejieur 
to  keep  on  his  feet  in  hard  times.  When  one  mill-owner  in 
Carcassonne  fell  into  straitened  circumstances,  and  was  about 

*Boislisle,  I.   No.   1097. 

Boislisle.  I.  No.  1671,  note. 

Colbert,  II.  p.  725,  No.  317. 

Colbert,  II.  p.  7.^51,  No.  322. 
t  Boislisle,  I.  Nos.  1085,  1481. 
t  Colbert,  II.  p.  688,  No.  282. 
§  Colbert,  II.  p.  743,  No.  337. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  49 

to  go  under,  the  intendant  hastened  to  his  aid  by  recommending" 
that  he  be  given  two  years  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  his  creditors.* 
From  encouragement  and  protection,  it  was  but  a  single 
step  to  regular  inspection  of  these  industries.  While  they  were 
still  few  and  easily  inspected,  the  intendants  quite  naturally 
assumed  the  duty.  From  time  to  time  Colbert  called  upon  them 
to  visit  fairs  to  observe  whether  the  cloth  offered  for  sale  bore 
the  manufacturer's  name  and  the  place  of  manufacture,  as  the 
government's  regulations  required.!  It  was  with  the  intendant 
at  Tours  that  the  idea  originated  of  publicly  exposing  all  defective 
goods  and  of  attaching  to  them  the  manufacturer's  name.  $  The 
ordinance  of  the  intendant  to  this  effect  was  approved  by  Colbert, 
and  afterward  incorporated  in  a  general  order  to  the  niaires  and 
cschevins  of  the  towns.  §  As  the  industries  developed,  the 
instructions  of  the  controleur  became  often  very  exacting :  "Quant 
ji  I'article  39  [du  r^glement  g6n6ral  des  manufactures],  je  dois 
vous  dire  que,  pour  en  conserver  I'ex^cution  et  faciliter  le  d^bit 
et  I'apprest  desdites  frocs  a  Lisieux,  vous  pourrez  rendre  vostre 
ordonnance  pour  regler  le  nombre  de  fils  et  de  portees,  et  la 
largeur  qu'ils  doivent  avoir  sortant  de  la  main  des  tisserands,  pour 
revenir  a  la  sortie  du  foulon  a  la  largeur  de  demy-aune  ordonn6e 

par  ledit  article "||     Instructions  of  such  import  required 

no  small  degree  of  technical  knowledge  on  the  part  of  intend- 
ants, and  in  the  course  of  time  a  class  of  intermediate  com- 
missionersl^  grew  up,  who  acted  as  inspectors  under  the  eye 
of  the  intendant.  Although  the  authority  of  the  intendant  was 
still  paramount,  the  instructions  of  the  ministers  were  couched  in 
somewdiat  different  language:  "Vous  concerterez,  s'il  vous  plaist, 
tout  ce  qui  sera  necessaire  pour  cela  avec  le  commis,  les 
marchands,  les  facturiers  et  les  juges  de  police  et  des  manufac- 
tures de  Laval;"  or,  "Je  vous  prie  d'examiner  cet  expedient  avec 

*  Boislisie,  I.  No.  1419.  Even  when  the  government  did  not  directly  subsidize  a 
manufacturer,  it  often  gave  him  moral  support.  At  Dijon,  the  town  magistrates  were 
urged  in  almost  dictatorial  fashion  to  give  "gratifications"  to  fathers  who  put  their  chil- 
dren to  work  in  the  factories.    Colbert,  II.  p.  688,  No.  'I'&i,. 

t  Colbert,  II.  p.  .539,  No.  119. 

X  Colbert,  II.  p.  579,  No.  165. 

§  Colbert,  II.  p.  607,  No.  196. 

11  Colbert,  II.  p.  539,  No.  119. 

1  These  commis  pour  Pexfctition  des  reglem,ens  f/en£ranx  des  manufactures  were  to 
report  to  the  intendants  all  cases  of  negligence  or  disobedience  on  the  part  of  the  local 
officers.  Such  the  intendants  might  punish  by  fine.  The  commis  were  to  report  all 
differences  and  disputes  that  arose  and  the  condition  of  the  manufactures  in  general  so 
that  corrective  measures  might  be  taken  by  the  intendants  or  by  the  eonseil.  Boislisie, 
I.  pp.  558-559. 


50  THE    INTENDANT    AS    A    POLITICAL    AGENT 

le  commis  et  les  facturiers  et  de  prendre  les  mesures  que  vous 
jugerez  les  meilleures  la-dessus."* 


It  was  probably  no  meaningless  official  verbiage  when 
Colbert  wrote  to  the  intendant  at  Riom  apropos  of  public 
works:  "Ce  sera  une  des  principales  occupations  que  vous  aurez 
pendant  que  vous  servirez  dans  les  provinces. "t  A  general  letter 
to  the  intendants  urged  them  to  observe,  in  the  course  of  their 
regular  tours  through  the  generalities,  what  rivers  could  be 
made  navigable,  and  to  give  an  estimate  of  the  work  which 
they  considered  necessary  for  that  purpose.  I  A  similar  letter 
urged  them  to  make  the  most  advantageous  contracts  possible 
for  the  repair  of  the  highways.§  These,  it  is  true,  were  only  a 
part  of  the  public  works  undertaken  by  the  state  through  the 
agency  of  the  intendants,  but  they  serve  to  indicate  the  relation 
of  the  intendants  to  this  department  of  public  service. 

In  the  pays  d election,  public  works  were  supervised  by  the 
intendant,  and  often  executed  under  his  immediate  direction.  He 
usually  estimated  their  probable  utility  and  cost;  he  made  accu- 
rate report  to  the  conseil;  he  devised  ways  and  means  for  meeting 
the  expense;  and,  finally,  upon  order  from  the  conseil,  he  made 
the  contracts  and  often  provided  the  materials  used  in  construc- 
tion. ||  In  the  pays  d'^tats  public  works  were  not  usually  under- 
taken by  the  king,  but  "Sa  Majest6  pent  seulement  exciter  les 
deputes  aux  Estats  d'y  donner  ordre  et  mesme  de  faire  visiter 
tons  les  chemins  et  faire  les  reparations  necessaires  pour  la 
commodite  publique,"1[ — rule  elastic  enough  to  permit  the  royal 
government  to  put  through  nearly  every  scheme  that  it  chose  to 
adopt.  With  the  intendant  on  hand  to  see  that  the  work  was 
done  "solidement  et  diligement,"^  as  he  might  of  right,  the 
projects  were  usually  carried  to  a  successful  issue;  but  left  to 
themselves,  the  estates  either  pushed  the  work  only  half-heartedly, 
or  abandoned  it  altogether.' 

*Boislisle,  L  No.  HSO. 

t  Colbert,  IV.  p.  437,  No.  20.  Colbert  made  it  a  point  to  write  to  the  intendants 
once  a  month  about  the  public  works.  He  earnestly  urged  the  intendants  to  adopt  the 
same  rule.    Colbert,  IV.  p.  537,  No.  125. 

X  Colbert,  IV.  p.  4.54,  No.  38. 

§  Colbert,  IV.  p.  454,  No.  39. 

i)  Colbert,  IV.  p.  454,  No.  39. 

1i  Colbert,  IV.  p.  561,  No.  1.50. 

"Colbert,  IV.  p.  438,  No.  21. 

'Thomas,  Une  province  sous  Louis  XIV.  pp.  185-190. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  51 

Indemnity  for  private  property  appropriated  for  state  uses 
was  usually  fixed  a  dire  d' experts,*  who  were  appointed  by  the 
intendants  in  the  pays  d' election,^  and  by  the  claimants  them- 
selves or  by  the  estates  in  \\iQ.  pays  d' etats.%  All  points  of  dispute 
between  the  contractors  and  private  parties,  or  between  the 
contractors  and  the  government,  were  adjudicated  by  the  intend- 
ant  with  appeal  only  to  the  conscil\%  and  ordinance  power  was 
given  to  the  intendants  to  settle  damages  where  private  indi- 
viduals had  suffered  from  the  construction  of  new  roads  and 
bridges.  || 

The  government  was  sublimely  indififerent  to  any  opposition 
to  schemes  of  public  improvement.  When  the  people  in  the 
generality  of  Caen  protested  againt  the  drainage  of  certain 
marshes,  Colbert  ordered  the  intendant  to  secure  their  consent, 
or  to  force  them  to  yield :  "Et  meme  si  vous  avez  besoin  de 
quelque  autre  arrest  pour  achever  enti^rement  cette  affaire,  je  ne 
manqueray  pas  de  vous  I'envoyer  au  premier  avis  que  vous  m'en 
donnerez."^  The  whole  spirit  and  history  of  the  old  regime  is 
summed  up  in  that  sentence. 

*  Dareste,  L'  Administration  de  justice,  p.  136. 

t  Such  is  the  natural  inference,  at  least,  from  the  correspondence  of  Colbert. 

t  Thomas,  p.  186,  Note  1. 

§  Dareste,  L' Admin,  de  justice,  p.  138. 

II  Isambert.  XX.  Nos.  1955  and  2005. 

1  Colbert,  IV.  p.  476,  No.  65. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


I. 

BoiSLiSLE,  Concspondance  des  Controleiirs  gaieraiix  des  Finan- 
ces avec  les  Intendants  des  Provinces.  2  vols.  Paris, 
1874-1883. 

Depping,  Correspo7ida7ice  adjniiiistrative  sons  le  rigne  de  Louis 
XIV.     4  vols.     Paris,  1850-55. 

Clement,  Lettrcs,  ijistrnctions,  et  memoiirs  de  Colbert.  7  vols. 
Paris,  1861-65. 

Cheruel,  Jojirnal  cV Ollivier  Lefkvre  U Orniesson.  2  vols. 
Paris,  i860. 

Baudry,     M^nioires  de  Nicholas-Joseph  Foncanlt.     Paris,  1862. 

IsAMBERT,  Recneil  general  des  anciemies  lois  fran^aises.  29 
vols.     Paris,  1822-27. 

BouLAiNViLLiERS,     £tat  de  la  France.     6  vols.      1837. 

Benoist,  Histoire  de  Vedit  de  Nantes;  containing  "Recneil 
d'Mits,  Declarations,  Arrets,  Reqtietes,  Memoires  et 
antres pikes  antJientiqnes"  in  volumes  I.  II.  III.  and  V. 
Delft,  1693. 


II. 

Aucoc,     Le  Conseil  d' ^tat  avajit  et  depnis  Ij8g.     Paris,  1876. 

Caillet,     De  l' Administration  en  Fiance  sous  le  viinisth'e  de 
Richelieu.     2  vols.     Paris,  i860. 

Cheruel,     Dictionnaire  Jiistoriqjie  des  institutions,  viceurs  et 
coutu7nes  de  la  France.     2  vols.     Paris,  1855. 


UNDER    LOUIS    XIV.  53 

Chbruel,     Histoire  de  V administration  monarckique  en  France. 
2  vols.     Paris,  1855. 

Clement,     Histoire  de  Colbett.     2  vols.     Paris,  1874. 

Dareste  de  la  Chavanne,     Histoire  de  V administratio7t  eft 
France.     2  vols.     Paris,  1848. 

Dareste  R.,     La  Justice  administj'ative  en  Fiance.  Paris,  1862. 

Clement,     Le  gouvernevient  de  Louis  XIV.     Paris,  1848. 

Clement,     La  Police  sous  Louis  XIV.     Paris,  1866. 

D'Avenel,     Richelieu  et  la  monarchic  absolue.     4  vols.     Paris, 
1884-87. 

De  Broc,     La  France  sous  Vancien  regime. 

De  Tocqueville,     L  And  en  Regime  et  la  Revolution.     Paris, 
"1857. 

Rambaud,     Histoire  de  la  civilisation  franqaise.    2  vols.    Paris, 
1888. 

III. 

BoYER  DE  Sainte-Suzanne,     Lcs  Liitcndants  de  la  gen^ralit^ 
d'' Ami  ens. 

D'Arbois    DE   Jubainville,     U administration  des  intcndants 
d'aprh  les  archives  de  L Atibe.     Paris,  1880. 

Duval,     £tat  de  la  g^neralit^  d' Alenqon  so2ts  Louis  XIV. 

Hanotaux,     Les  origines   de   Vinstitution   des   Intendaitts   de 
province.     Paris,  1884. 

Marchand,     Un  Intendant  sous  Louis  XIV. 

Monin,     Essai  sur  l' histoire  administrative  du  Languedoc  pen- 
dant L intendance  de  Basville.     Paris,  1884. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    NOTE. 


The  writer  of  the  foregoing  pages  was  born  at  Lowell, 
Massachusetts,  and  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Lowell  High 
School.  Entering  Amherst  College  in  the  autumn  of  1888,  he 
pursued  courses  leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and 
was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1892.  For  two  years  he  was 
instructor  in  English  and  History  at  the  Lawrenceville  School, 
New  Jersey,  resigning  his  position  to  become  Roswell  Dvvight 
Hitchcock  Fellow  in  History  and  Political  Science  at  Amherst 
College  during  the  college  year  1894-95.  He  received  the  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts  from  Amherst  College  in  1895,  the  subject  of 
his  thesis  being  a  "History  of  the  Executive  Patronage."  In  the 
summer  of  1895  he  went  to  Germany  to  pursue  studies  in 
Political  Science  and  History  and  matriculated  at  the  University 
of  Leipzig.  After  spending  three  semesters  at  that  institution, 
he  entered  the  "ficole  des  sciences  politiques"  at  Paris.  Return- 
ing to  the  United  States  in  1897,  he  became  Fellow  in  European 
History  at  Columbia  University  in  New  York  City  and  a  candi- 
date for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy.  At  the  present 
time  he  is  Associate  Professor  of  History  in  Iowa  College, 
Grinnell,  Iowa. 


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